Violence erupted in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on Sunday, the fourth day of massive protests that began after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze suspended talks to join the European Union (EU).
Dozens of people have been hospitalized and Kobakhidze has threatened mass arrests unless the demonstrators disperse.
Georgians have long desired to join the EU. The matter grew more urgent after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, understandably alarming the population of a former Soviet satellite state that had already suffered through its own Russian invasion in 2008. Roughly a fifth of Georgia’s territory is still occupied by Russian troops over 15 years later.
Georgia filed its application to join the EU in March 2022, a month after the Ukraine invasion began. Polls show that about 80 percent of the Georgian population supported the application. Unfortunately for them, the pro-Russian ruling party Georgian Dream (GD) and its billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili were among the 20 percent that would rather not become part of Europe.
Georgian Dream was founded in 2012 by Ivanishvili, the richest and most influential man in Georgia. Much of his wealth was acquired by doing business in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. Even as most Georgians longed to join the Western world, Ivanishvili was denouncing Western influence and demanding closer ties with Moscow.
GD cemented its grip on power with an October parliamentary election denounced by the opposition — and by many foreign observers — as rigged. The outgoing president, Salome Zourabichvili, denounced the election as a “constitutional coup” and said the “illegitimate” GD government has “declared war on its own people.”
Zourabichvili is threatening to remain in office after her term expires in December, holding her seat until a “new legitimate president” is elected.
“The people are not going to accept that Georgian Dream tries to take Georgia back into Russia,” she said last week.
The European parliament agreed with these criticisms of the Georgia election, passing a non-binding resolution last week that rejected the outcome of the election, demanded new elections within a year, and called for sanctions against Prime Minister Kobakhidze and his top officials.
Protests have been ongoing ever since the disputed election, but they exploded in size and intensity on Thursday when the European Parliament denounced the Georgian election, and the GD government responded by freezing EU accession talks until 2028.
GD said the European condemnation of the October election was the latest in a “cavalcade of insults,” accused the EU of using accession as leverage for “blackmail,” and claimed the EU was trying to “organize a revolution” in Georgia.
“We have decided not to put the issue of opening negotiations with the European Union on the agenda until the end of 2028. Also, we refuse any budgetary grant from the European Union until the end of 2028,” GD’s statement said.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators flooded the streets of Tbilisi after EU accession talks were suspended, waving Georgian and European flags. Police responded with water cannons, pepper spray, and tear gas. Opposition leaders accused the police of using brutal force against the demonstrators, starting on the very first night.
Sunday was the fourth night of the ongoing demonstrations. Some of the protesters are now wearing gas masks and returning fire against the police with fireworks. The Georgian Interior Ministry said 27 protesters, 16 police, and one journalist were injured in the overnight clashes.
Georgian media reported protests have broken out in at least eight cities and towns, including the Black Sea port city of Poti. In the city of Khashuri, protesters threw eggs at the local office of Georgian Dream and tore down the party’s flag.
The U.S. State Department on Saturday condemned both the suspension of European Union talks and the violent crackdown on protesters.
“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,” the State Department said.
“Georgian Dream’s various anti-democratic actions have violated the core tenets of our U.S.-Georgia Strategic Partnership, which was based on shared values and commitments to democracy, rule of law, civil society, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and anti-corruption efforts. As a result, the United States has suspended this mechanism,” the State Department added.
Kobakhidze warned on Sunday 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 added ominously.
Kobakhidze trashed the State Department’s comments, accusing U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration of stirring up trouble to make life difficult for President-elect Donald Trump.
“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,” he said.
“This will not have any fundamental significance. We will wait for the new administration and discuss everything with them,” he added.
At a press conference on Sunday, Kobakhidze hinted the protests were a phony revolution stirred up by the U.S. and Europe to undermine his government. He offered no evidence for this assertion.
“Despite the heaviest systematic violence applied yesterday by the violent groups and their foreign instructors, the police acted at a higher standard than the American and European ones and successfully protected the state from another attempt to violate the constitutional order,” he said.
The European Union’s new foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said on Sunday that the EU sides with the protesters and their “choice for a European future.”
“We condemn the violence against protesters, and regret signals from the ruling party not to pursue Georgia’s path to the EU, and the democratic backsliding of the country. This will have direct consequences from the EU side,” she warned.
Russia has not commented officially on the chaos in Georgia yet but former president Dmitry Medvedev, one of the most aggressive mouthpieces for President Vladimir Putin, darkly hinted that Moscow might take action if the uprising continues.
“Georgia is quickly moving down the Ukrainian path, into a dark abyss. Usually, such things end very badly,” Medvedev said.
President Zourabichvili on Monday appealed to Western nations for “very clear moral and political support.”
“We want our European destiny to be returned to us. This is the revolt of an entire country,” she said in an interview with France Inter radio.