Demonstrators gather after the EU negotiation stop in Georgia

Demonstrators gather after the EU negotiation stop in Georgia

On Saturday evening, protesters gathered in Georgia for the third consecutive nights from demonstrations against the government's decision to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union. According to the country's Ministry of the Interior, more than 100 demonstrators were arrested when the police broke up on Friday evening. The Associated Press news agency observed how protesters in Tbilisi were persecuted and beaten by the police while demonstrating in front of the country's parliament.

protests in Tbilisi

In the same night, the police also used massive violence against members of the media and used water cannons to push the protesters back on the central boulevard road in the capital, Rustaweli Straße. The controversial victory of the ruling party Georgian Dream in the parliamentary elections on October 26, which was widely regarded as a referendum on Georgia's efforts to join the European Union, led to considerable protests and initiated the opposition to a boycott of parliament.

allegations of election manipulation

The opposition claims that the choice was manipulated with the help of Russia, the former imperial master of Georgia, to keep tbilisa within the area of ​​influence. In a conversation with the AP on Saturday, the Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili expressed that Georgia would become a "quasi-Russian" state and that the party Georgian Dream checked the country's important institutions. "We saw what is happening in the country - there are no more independent institutions, neither courts nor the central bank and of course not the parliament," she said. "We move faster and faster into a quasi-Russian model."

reactions of the government

Zourabichvili also rejected the statements of the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who characterized the protests as "violent demonstrations". In an explanation on Saturday, he said that Tbilis remains committed to European integration, but claimed that unanimous "foreign actors" wanted to bring about the "Ukrainization" process in Georgia with a "Maidan scenario"-a reference to the Maidan revolution in Ukraine from 2014.

claim for new elections

"We do not ask for a coup. We ask for new elections, but under conditions that ensure that the will of the people will not be falsified or stolen again," emphasized Zourabichvili. "Georgia has always opposed the Russian influence and will not accept that his voice is stolen and his fate is in question."

reactions of the European Union

The government's announcement to suspend the negotiations on the EU accession was carried out a few hours after the European Parliament had passed a resolution that the elections in the past month neither free nor fairly condemned. In the resolution it was taken into account that the election was a further manifestation of the ongoing democratic regression of Georgia, for which the ruling party Georgian Dream was fully responsible.

democratic setbacks and sanctions

European election observers reported that the elections in October took place in a split atmosphere that was characterized by bribes, double elections and physical violence. The EU granted Georgia in December 2023, but put the accession negotiations on hold and the financial support services at the beginning of 2023 after the adoption of a "law on external influence" regarded as a setback for democratic freedoms.

claims by EU MPs

EU MPs called for a repetition of the parliamentary elections within one year under comprehensive international supervision and by an independent election management. They also called on the EU to impose sanctions and limit the formal contacts with the Georgian government.

counter strike of the Georgian Prime Minister

The Georgian Prime Minister immediately rejected the claims and described the EU politicians' statements as "cascade of insults" and explained that the "contradictory of our country would have transformed the European Parliament into a blunt weapon of blackmail against Georgia, which was a great shame for the European Union". Kobakhidze also said that Georgia would do without all EU budget grants by the end of 2028.

criticism of the party Georgian Dream

Critics of the Georgian Dream party, which was founded by the mysterious billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who has taken his assets in Russia, increasingly becoming authoritarian and moscow friendly. The party recently enforced laws that are similar to those used by the Kremlin to suppress the freedom of expression and the rights of LGBTQ+