Opposition parties were outraged by the government decision to freeze talks to join the pan-European bloc
Pro-EU protesters clashed with police in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, on Thursday evening, after the government suspended accession negotiations with the bloc.
Protesters gathered outside the parliament building on Rustaveli Avenue, denouncing the ruling Georgian Dream party.
The demonstration was backed by several opposition parties, as well Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili.
Police attempted to disperse the crowd with tear gas and a water cannon.
The Interior Ministry said that protesters violated the country’s assembly laws and threw “different objects” at the officers. Three policemen were injured, the ministry said in a statement.
The opposition has long been accusing the government of sabotaging the negotiations aimed at bringing Georgia into the EU, which have been going on since the mid-2000s. The tensions only increased after last month’s parliamentary election, which the opposition claimed was rigged by Georgian Dream.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced on Thursday that Georgia would suspend accession talks with the EU until 2028. He said that his government does not renounce the ultimate goal of joining the EU, but argued that Georgia should not bow to “constant blackmail and manipulation.”
Zourabichvili denounced the government’s action as “an unconstitutional coup” and called on her supporters to “resist.”
“No one should dare to suppress today’s protest,” she said in a video address.
The Georgian-EU relations have continued to deteriorate throughout 2024 as Brussels criticized Georgia’s legislation aimed at curbing LGBTQ “propaganda” and labeling NGOs that receive funds from abroad “foreign agents.”
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