Violence has erupted once again in Georgia for the fourth consecutive night.
On Sunday (December 1), tens of thousands of protesters gathered outside the parliament building in Tbilisi, with some of them waving Georgian and EU flags and others donning gas masks.
Following the conflicts on November 30, the interior minister announced that 27 protestors, 16 police, and one media representative had been transported to the hospital.
Why is Georgia protesting?
The protests were sparked by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's announcement that negotiations to join the EU would be postponed.
He claimed it was due to “blackmail” from the bloc, but many people worry that the administration is growing more autocratic and intends to forge deeper connections with Russia rather than Europe.
Tomorrow’s meeting of the 🇬🇪Parliament is unconstitutional: 1/massive electoral fraud has undermined its legitimacy.
— Salome Zourabichvili (@Zourabichvili_S) November 24, 2024
2/ I refused to called the 1st session and the Constitution does not recognize anyone to act as substitute.
3/my appeal to the Constitutional court is pending.
Critics have accused Bidzina Ivanishvili, the party's millionaire founder who made his fortune in Russia, of dreaming of dictatorship and being pro-Moscow.
The European Parliament passed a resolution denouncing the ruling Georgian Dream party and calling last month's election neither free nor fair, which prompted the decision to halt negotiations.
Georgian Dream received roughly 54 per cent of the vote, according to the Central Election Commission, and party officials have denied accusations of electoral fraud.
Opinion polls show that Georgians are overwhelmingly in favour of joining the EU, and the goal of going the bloc is even stated in the constitution.
Protests are also reportedly spreading to other parts of the 3.76 million-person nation, which is situated over the Greater Caucasus mountain range on Russia's southwest border and Turkey's northeast border.
How did Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze react to the protests?
Mr Kobakhidze has avoided commenting on the protests but backed a decision to pause EU discussions, saying the idea of EU isn’t completely scrapped.
He added: “The only thing we have rejected is the shameful and offensive blackmail, which was, in fact, a significant obstacle to our country’s European integration.”
The Georgian Dream remains “committed to European integration... and we are continuing on our path to the European dream,” according to Mr Kobakhidze.
However, a growing number of public officials don't seem to think that's true. More than 3,000 teachers and hundreds of civil personnel have signed letters denouncing the decision to postpone EU entry, and some diplomats have even resigned.
The decision to stop EU talks has drawn harsh criticism from the US as well. Due to worries about democratic backsliding, the United States has stopped its strategic relationship with Georgia.
A US State Department statement denounced the government's use of disproportionate force against nonviolent protesters.
It read: “The Georgian people overwhelmingly support integration with Europe. The United States condemns the excessive use of force by police against Georgians seeking to exercise their rights to assembly and expression, including their freedom to peacefully protest.”
Mr Kobakhidze said it was opposition groups and not the police that had meted out “systemic violence”.
