A third night of protests in the Georgian capital against the government’s decision to suspend negotiations to join the EU left 44 people hospitalised, officials said on Sunday.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the parliament on Saturday night throwing stones and setting off fireworks, while police deployed water cannon and teargas.
An effigy of the founder of the governing Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, was burned in front of the legislature.
The interior ministry said on Sunday that 27 protesters, 16 police and one media worker had been hospitalised.
The prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, said at a briefing: “Any violation of the law will be met with the full rigour 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 insisted it was not true that Georgia’s European integration had been halted. “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,” he said.
The government’s announcement came hours after the European parliament adopted a resolution saying last month’s general election in Georgia was not free or fair.
The EU’s new foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, and the enlargement commissioner, Marta Kos, said in a joint statement on Sunday: “We note that this announcement marks a shift from the policies of all previous Georgian governments and the European aspirations of the vast majority of the Georgian people, as enshrined in the constitution of Georgia.”
They reiterated the EU’s “serious concerns about the continuous democratic backsliding of the country” and urged 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.”
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Georgian Dream’s disputed victory in the parliamentary election on 26 October, which was widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s aspirations to join the EU, has sparked demonstrations and led to an opposition boycott of parliament.
The opposition has said the vote was rigged with the help of Russia, Georgia’s former imperial master, as Moscow hopes to keep Tbilisi in its orbit.
Georgia’s pro-western president, Salome Zourabichvili, said on Saturday 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 meet the bloc’s recommendations, but put its accession on hold and cut financial support earlier this year after the passage of a “foreign influence” law that was widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.