Georgia protesters take to streets for third night over EU talks freeze

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Protesters in the Georgian capital Tbilisi took to the streets on Saturday for a third night as public anger mounted over the government’s decision to freeze EU accession talks.

Violent clashes with police have broken out during the protests, with hundreds detained and dozens injured. It is one of the most intense protest movements Georgia has experienced in decades.

The protesters object to the government’s decision to put talks with the EU on hold, and to decline any funding from the bloc until 2028.

On Friday, barricades and fires appeared on Tbilisi’s main Rustaveli Avenue. Demonstrators responded to police water cannons and tear gas by aiming fireworks at the police lines. Protesters stormed the headquarters of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party.

Many universities, schools, businesses and nightclubs have closed in protest at the government’s actions. Hundreds of state employees, including some in government ministries and the Constitutional Court, signed letters opposing the decision. 

Georgian president and key opposition figure Salome Zourabichvili said on Saturday night that she would remain in office as long as Georgia’s parliament lacked legitimacy, despite her term officially ending on December 16.

“I remain your President. There is no legitimate parliament, and an illegitimate parliament cannot elect a new president. Therefore, no inauguration can take place, and my mandate continues until a legitimately elected parliament is formed to elect my successor,” Zourabishvili said in a national address on Saturday.

On Thursday she said GD had “declared a war” on the country’s citizens.

On Saturday, the US state department announced the suspension of the strategic partnership between the US and Georgia, saying that “various anti-democratic actions have violated the core tenets” of it. 

“By suspending Georgia’s EU accession process, Georgian Dream has rejected the opportunity for closer ties with Europe and made Georgia more vulnerable to the Kremlin,” the statement read. 

Ketevan Chachava, head of Tbilisi-based NGO the Center for Development and Democracy, said the crackdown “seems calculated to intimidate dissent but risks further galvanising public anger”.

“The coming days will be critical,” she added.

Guram Chukhrukidze, an economist in his early 30s who was among the protesters on Friday night, described the policing of the protests as “very violent” and said he had been hit by rubber bullets. But he said he was returning to the streets on Saturday.

“People are super-motivated to fight and I am sure we will win, this regime is based on police force and nothing else,” he said.

The wave of protests is the latest step in a prolonged political crisis in Georgia. GD has been in power since 2012 and has gradually expanded its influence over almost all the country’s institutions, steering the South Caucasus republic back towards Russia’s orbit.

Eka Gigauri, head of Transparency international Georgia, another NGO, said the protests were a “generational fight”.

“When Georgians understand that the European future is to be taken from them, that the country is to turn to Russia, they fight,” she said. “Russia wants to capture us — this is what is happening.”

Earlier this month GD announced it had won in national elections with 54 per cent of the vote. But Brussels and Washington have expressed concern about the legitimacy of the result because of reports of intimidation, ballot-stuffing and fraud at polling stations.

The European parliament has passed a resolution calling for a rerun of the elections and sanctions against leading Georgian politicians, including oligarch and GD founder Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Many in the Georgian opposition see Russia’s hand in the alleged electoral manipulation.

Brussels halted Georgia’s accession talks this summer because of a controversial “foreign agents” law which critics say is inspired by Vladimir Putin’s Russia. It requires NGOs and media that receive foreign funding to register with the government or face fines.

Over 80 per cent of Georgia’s 3.8mn population support EU membership according to polls by local and international research organisations.

Despite GD’s fierce anti-western rhetoric, the party has until now championed EU integration. It was in power when Georgia enshrined its desire for EU membership in the constitution in 2017 and secured candidate status late last year.

Even as recently as this month’s elections, GD endorsed EU accession and Nato membership.

But, announcing the suspension of accession talks earlier this week, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze of GD said they would resume when Georgia is “economically ready”. It would join the EU by 2030 but “with dignity” rather than “as a charity case”, he said.

Speaking on a state visit to Kazakhstan on Thursday, Putin said he was surprised by the Georgian government’s “courage and determination in standing up for their beliefs”.