Protesters gather for third night of demonstrations after Georgia announced suspension of EU talks: NPR

Demonstrators use fireworks against police during a rally against the government’s decision to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union for four years in front of the parliament building in Tbilisi, Georgia, early Sunday, December 1, 2024.

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TBILISI, Georgia – Protesters gathered across Georgia on Saturday evening for a third consecutive night of demonstrations against the government’s decision to suspend negotiations to join the European Union.

More than 100 protesters were arrested on Friday evening as crowds clashed with police, the country’s interior ministry said. The Associated Press saw demonstrators in Tbilisi being chased and beaten by police as demonstrators gathered outside the country’s parliament building.

That same night, police also used heavy force against members of the media and used water cannons to push back protesters along the capital’s central boulevard, Rustaveli Avenue.

The ruling Georgian Dream party’s controversial victory in the Oct. 26 parliamentary election, widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s ambitions to join the European Union, sparked large demonstrations and led to an opposition boycott of parliament.

The opposition said the vote was rigged with the help of Russia, Georgia’s former imperial ruler, and that Moscow hoped to keep Tbilisi within its sphere of influence.

Speaking to the AP on Saturday, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said Georgia is becoming a “quasi-Russian” state and that the “Georgian Dream” controls the country’s key institutions.

“We saw what happened in the country – a country where we no longer have independent institutions, not the courts, not the central bank and of course not the parliament,” she said. “We are rapidly approaching a quasi-Russian model.”

Demonstrators stand in front of police during a rally outside the Parliament building on Saturday, November 30, 2024, to protest against the government’s decision to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union for four years.

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Zurabishvili also rejected statements by Georgian Prime Minister Iraqi Kobakhidze, who described the protests as “violent demonstrations.” In a statement on Saturday, he said Tbilisi remained committed to European integration. However, he said that unspecified “foreign entities” wanted to see the “Ukrainization” of Georgia with a “Maidan-style scenario” – a reference to the 2014 Maidan Revolution in Ukraine.

“We are not calling for a revolution. We demand new elections, but under conditions that ensure that the will of the people is not misrepresented or stolen again,” Zurabishvili said. “Georgia has always resisted Russian influence and will not accept that its voice and destiny will be stolen from it.”

The government’s announcement that it would suspend EU membership negotiations came hours after the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning last month’s vote as neither free nor fair. It said the election was another expression of Georgia’s ongoing democratic backsliding, “for which the ruling Georgian Dream party bears full responsibility.”

European election observers said the October vote took place in a divisive atmosphere marked by cases of bribery, double voting and physical violence.

The EU granted candidate candidate status to Georgia in December 2023 on the condition that the country follows the bloc’s recommendations. But accession was put on hold earlier this year and financial support cut after the passage of a “foreign influence” law that was widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.

EU lawmakers called for the parliamentary vote to be repeated within a year, under full international supervision and by an independent election administration. They also called on the EU to impose sanctions and limit formal contacts with the Georgian government.

Georgia’s prime minister hit back, denouncing a “cascade of insults” from EU politicians and declaring that “our country’s ill-wishers have turned the European Parliament into a blunt blackmail weapon against Georgia, which is a…” great disgrace for the European Union .”

Kobakhidze also said Georgia would reject any EU budget subsidies until the end of 2028.

Critics accused the Georgian Dream, founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shady billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, of becoming increasingly authoritarian and turning toward Moscow. The party has recently pushed through laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on free speech and LGBTQ+ rights.