Clashes between protesters and riot police continued for the second night in a row in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, where opposition parties denounced the government’s decision to freeze negotiations on joining the EU.
Just like the day before, a large crowd of protesters descended on the central Rustaveli Avenue on Friday evening to hold a rally outside the parliament building.
While some attendees were peaceful, others launched fireworks and threw objects at police officers.
Some erected small makeshift barricades and set dumpsters on fire.
At around midnight, police moved to disperse the crowd using a water cannon. According to the Interior Ministry, the action was taken in response to multiple violations of assembly laws by protesters and after two officers were injured.
According to local media, several people have been detained.
A coalition of opposition parties and Georgia’s pro-EU president, Salome Zourabichvili, have called the current government “illegitimate” and accused the ruling Georgian Dream party of rigging last month’s parliamentary election.
In a post on X, Zourabichvili described the crackdown on protesters as “brutal and disproportionate.”
Mamuka Mdinaradze, the leader of Georgian Dream in the parliament, claimed that the opposition was planning to “organize riots” in order to destabilize the situation in the country.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze defended the decision to suspend accession talks with the EU until 2028, arguing that Brussels has used the negotiations to meddle in Georgian politics. “For two years, the status of [EU] candidate has been used as a blackmail method… It must stop,” he said at a press conference on Friday.
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