Georgia protesters clash with police after Prime Minister halts EU membership talks | Protests News

The European Parliament rejects the election results as the Georgian president accuses Kobakhidze of waging ‘war’ with his people.

Protesters clashed with police in Georgia after the ruling party announced it was delaying EU accession talks.

Thousands gathered outside parliament in the capital, Tbilisi, after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced the crackdown, sparking chaos, as masked police fired rubber bullets and tear gas and water cannon at protesters in the early hours of Friday.

Kobakhidze’s decision on Thursday came hours after the European Parliament adopted a non-binding decision to annul the results of the parliamentary elections held in October due to “irregularities” and to call for a further vote on sanctions against senior officials, including the prime minister.

Kobakhidze, whose Georgian Dream party has come under fire for alleged backsliding of democracy and deepening ties with Russia, has accused the EU body of “disloyalty”, saying it will suspend accession talks until 2028, with the goal of membership in 2030.

He also said that the country will refuse any budget support from the EU until the end of 2028.

President Salome Zurabichvili, an EU critic of the Georgian Dream whose power is a celebration, said the ruling party “did not declare peace, but is fighting against its people, its future and its future”.

During these protests, he confronted the police, asking if they were working for Georgia or Russia, and criticized the arrest of protesters and journalists at the event, saying that they were “targeted in the wrong way and attacked while doing their job”.

The Ministry of the Interior said on Friday that 43 people were arrested during the protest, and 32 police officers were injured.

It also said that a few protesters threw explosives at the police, while others tried to break the railings outside the parliament.

Zurabichvili, who filed a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court to annul the election, saying it was rigged under Russian influence, is in office until December.

He was elected by popular vote, but constitutional changes mean that the new president will be elected by the electoral college, currently held by Georgian Dream.

This week, Georgian Dream appointed right-wing politician Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former Premier League footballer known for his strong, anti-Western statements, to replace him – a move the EU is likely to interpret as another sign that the country is closing in. in Russia.

Kobakhidze’s decision to suspend EU accession talks marks a new low in his country’s relations with the 27-nation bloc.

The EU granted Georgia status in December 2023 but said many laws since passed by the Georgian Dream, including curbs on “foreign agents” – a label slapped on organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad – and LGBTQ rights, inspired by Russia and barriers to EU membership.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking during a visit to Kazakhstan this week, praised the “courage and character” he said Georgian authorities had shown in handing over the law to “foreign agents”, which domestic critics likened to Russian law.

Georgian Dream was founded in 2012 by billionaire oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia. It used to be considered a pro-European party but has moved closer to Moscow over events such as the war in Ukraine.