By Chris Summers
Police in the former Soviet republic of Georgia have clashed with protesters for a fourth consecutive night after the Georgian Dream party, which won elections last month, suspended negotiations about joining the European Union for four years.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, in a standoff with her own government, has called on the country’s Constitutional Court to void the annual elections held last month, but her political rival, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, has warned protesters, “any violation of the law will be met with the full rigor of the law.”
Zourabichvili and the opposition claim the Oct. 26 poll—which saw Georgian Dream win by garnering nearly 54 percent of the vote—was rigged under the influence of Russia.
Clashes on the night of Nov. 30 left 44 people in hospital after police deployed water cannons and tear gas.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the parliament, throwing stones and setting off fireworks.
An effigy of the founder of the Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili—a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia—was set on fire.
The clashes continued on the night of Dec. 1, according to on-the-ground reports, videos on social media, and photo-journalists.
Katie Shoshiashvili, a senior corruption researcher with the Transparency International, a Berlin-based nonprofit, wrote on X, “Police forces launched brutal crackdowns on protesters in the early hours, chasing them through the central streets of Tbilisi, encircling them, beating them viciously, dragging individuals from their cars, and making arbitrary arrests.”
Russia’s Interfax news agency reported the police dispersed most of the protesters in the early hours of the night of Dec. 1, leaving only a small group near a metro station.
Interfax, quoting the Georgian interior ministry, said 113 police officers had been injured over the last few days.
The EU and the United States government have both said they were alarmed by Georgia’s apparent shift back toward a pro-Moscow stance.
The U.S. State Department said on Nov. 30 it was suspending its strategic partnership with Georgia.
In a statement the State Department said, “The decision by Georgian Dream to suspend Georgia’s EU accession process goes against the promise to the Georgian people enshrined in their constitution to pursue full integration into the European Union and NATO.”
‘More Vulnerable To Kremlin’
“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,” it added.
The European Parliament adopted a nonbinding resolution on Nov. 28, which stated that the election “cannot be considered as free and fair,” and “the conduct of the election was a further manifestation of the continuing democratic backsliding for which the ruling party is fully responsible.”
But Georgian Dream says it is seeking to defend the country’s sovereignty against outside interference.
Kobakhidze said, “Neither will those politicians who hide in their offices and sacrifice members of their violent groups to severe punishment escape responsibility.”
He denied the government was stopping integration with Western Europe and said, “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.”
Georgia, on the southeast coast of the Black Sea, is considered part of the continent of Europe but has long been under the shadow of Russia.
It was conquered by the Russian tsars in the 19th century and was part of the Soviet Union—Joseph Dzhugashvili, better known as Stalin, was from Georgia—until it gained independence in 1991.
In 2008 Georgia fought a war with Russia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.
In recent years it has sought closer integration with Europe and the West, but Kobakhidze said on Nov. 30 that “foreign entities” wanted to see the “Ukrainization” of Georgia.
Referring to the events in a square in central Kyiv in 2014 which led to Ukrainian nationalists ousting Viktor Yanukovych, a pro-Moscow president, Kobakhidze said he feared a “Maidan-style scenario.”
In the wake of the so-called Euromaidan protests in Kyiv, Russia annexed Crimea and began supporting separatist forces in the Donbas region.
Kobakhidze said of President Biden, “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 Waits For Trump Administration
“This will not have any fundamental significance. We will wait for the new administration and discuss everything with them,” he said, a reference to President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 20.
Zourabichvili said her country was becoming a “quasi-Russian” state.
She said, “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.”
“Georgia has been always resisting Russian influence and will not accept having its vote stolen and its destiny stolen,” she said.
In the Oct. 26 election, Georgian Dream won 89 seats in the country’s parliament, with 54 percent of the vote, compared to two pro-EU parties, the Coalition For Change and the Unity-National Movement, which won just 35 seats with 22 percent of the popular vote.
The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on condition it met the bloc’s recommendations, but put its accession on hold after Georgian Dream enacted a “foreign influence” law.
Kobakhidze said there had been a “cascade of insults” from EU politicians and “the ill-wishers of our country have turned the European Parliament into a blunt weapon of blackmail against Georgia, which is a great disgrace for the European Union.”
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
