Over 40 people hospitalized in Georgia during protests over the suspension of EU talks. TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — A third night of protests in the Georgian capital against the government’s decision to suspend negotiations to join the European Union left 44 people hospitalized, officials said Sunday.
Tens of thousands of protesters clashed with police outside the Georgian parliament Saturday night, throwing rocks and fireworks as officers responded with water cannons and tear gas. An effigy of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the shadowy billionaire founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, was burned in the street in front of the parliament building.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry said Sunday that 27 protesters, 16 police and one media worker were hospitalized.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze warned that “any violation of the law will be met with the full rigor of the law.”
“Neither will those politicians who hide in their offices and sacrifice members of their violent groups to severe punishment escape responsibility,” he said at a briefing Sunday.
He claimed that the European integration of Georgia was not stopped. “The only thing we have refused is the shameful and insulting blackmail, which, in fact, had become a major obstacle to the European integration of our country.” The statement was issued by the government a few hours after the European Parliament voted for a resolution denouncing last month’s general election in Georgia as neither free nor fair.
Kobakhidze also rejected the U.S. State Department’s statement Saturday that it was suspending its strategic partnership with Georgia. The statement condemned Georgia’s decision to halt its efforts toward EU accession.
You can see that the outgoing administration is trying to leave the new administration with as difficult a legacy as possible. They are doing this regarding Ukraine, and now also concerning Georgia,” Kobakhidze said. “This will not have any fundamental significance. We will wait for the new administration and discuss everything with them.
Kobakhidze also confirmed that Georgia’s ambassador to the U.S., David Zalkaliani, had become the latest of a number of diplomats to stand down since the protests started.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and enlargement commissioner Marta Kos released a joint statement Sunday on the Georgian government’s decision to suspend negotiations.
We note that this announcement represents a turnabout from all previous Georgian governments and the European aspirations of the great majority of the Georgian people as enshrined in the Constitution of Georgia,” the statement said.
It repeated the EU’s “serious concerns about the continuous democratic backsliding of the country” and called Georgian authorities to “respect the right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, and refrain from using force against peaceful protesters, politicians and media representatives.”
Major demonstrations have erupted in the wake of the disputed victory of the ruling Georgian Dream party in the Oct. 26 parliamentary election, widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s aspirations to join the EU.
The opposition has said that the vote was rigged with the help of Russia, Georgia’s former imperial master, with Moscow hoping to keep Tbilisi in its orbit.
Speaking to The Associated Press on Saturday, Georgia’s pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili said that her country was becoming a “quasi-Russian” state and that Georgian Dream controlled the major institutions.
“We are not demanding a revolution. We are asking for new elections, but in conditions that will ensure that the will of the people will not be misrepresented or stolen again,” Zourabichvili said.
The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on condition that it follows the bloc’s recommendations; however, it put on hold its accession and stopped financial support earlier this year amid the passage of a “foreign influence” law widely seen as being a blow to democratic freedoms.
