Thousands in Georgia took part in a fourth straight day of protests on Sunday (December 1, 2024) against a government decision to shelve EU membership talks, as the prime minister rebuffed calls for new elections.

The Black Sea nation has been rocked by turmoil since the governing Georgian Dream party claimed victory in October 26 parliamentary polls that the pro-European opposition said were fraudulent.

The opposition is boycotting the new parliament, while pro-EU President Salome Zurabishvili has asked the constitutional court to annul the election result and declared the new legislature and government “illegitimate”.

Critics accuse Georgian Dream, in power for more than a decade, of having steered the country away from the EU in recent years and of moving closer to Russia, an accusation it denies.

On Thursday (December 28, 2024), Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced Georgia would not seek accession talks with the European Union until 2028, sparking a wave of protests in the capital Tbilisi and other cities.

About 150 demonstrators have been arrested in this latest wave.

Police in some instances have chased protesters through the streets, beating them and firing rubber bullets and tear gas.

Thousands waving European and Georgian flags gathered outside parliament on Sunday (December 1, 2024) evening, with some banging on the metal door blocking its entrance.

‘Not my government’

Despite cold weather, young protesters, some of them teenagers, stood their ground for an hour under streams of water from fire hoses sprayed by police from the parliament courtyard on Sunday (December 1, 2024).

Police later deployed water cannons but were unable to disperse the crowds.

“Georgian Dream is not my government. This is not Georgia’s government. This is a (pro) Russian government, and they must go,” said one of the demonstrators, 32-year-old bartender Alexandre Diasamidze.

Another protest took place outside the offices of Georgia’s Public Broadcaster (GPB), widely accused of acting as a propaganda tool for the ruling party.

The broadcaster conceded to the protesters’ demand to grant President Zurabishvili airtime, which it had previously denied her.

Simultaneous protests took place in cities across Georgia.

Fuelling popular anger, Mr. Kobakhidze ruled out new parliamentary elections, saying that “the formation of the new government based on the October 26 parliamentary elections has been completed”.

Earlier this week, the party nominated far-right former football international Mikheil Mr. Kavelashvili for the largely ceremonial post of president.

But Ms. Zurabishvili told AFP in an exclusive interview on Saturday that she would not step down until last month’s contested parliamentary elections are re-run.

‘Only legitimate institution’

Brussels has not recognised the outcome of the October elections and demanded an investigation into “serious electoral irregularities”.

The European Parliament has called for a re-run and for sanctions against top Georgian officials, including Mr. Kobakhidze.

Ms. Zurabishvili on Saturday (November 30, 2024) said that she had set up a “national council” of opposition parties and civil society representatives, which would ensure “stability in this country”.

Calling herself “the only legitimate institution in the country”, Mr. Ms. Zurabishvili said that “as long as there are no new elections… my mandate continues”.

“Nobody outside Georgia, democratic partners, nobody has recognised the elections,” she added.

“I will be the representative of this legitimate, stable transition,” she said.

Constitutional law experts, including one author of Georgia’s constitution, Vakhtang Khmaladze, told AFP that any decisions made by the new parliament – including the nomination of Mr. Kobakhidze as prime minister and the coming presidential election – would be invalid.

That is because parliament had approved its own credentials in violation of a legal requirement to await a court ruling on Ms. Ms. Zurabishvili’s bid to annul the election results, they said.

International condemnation

Hundreds of public servants, including from the ministries of foreign affairs, defence and education, as well as a number of judges, issued joint statements protesting Mr. Kobakhidze’s decision to postpone EU accession talks.

More than 200 Georgian diplomats criticised the move as contradicting the constitution and leading the country “into international isolation”.

A number of Georgia’s ambassadors resigned, while around 100 schools and universities suspended academic activities in protest.

After the October vote, a group of Georgia’s leading election monitors said they had evidence of large-scale electoral fraud.

The crackdown on protests has provoked international condemnation.

The EU’s new foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Sunday (December 1, 2024) warned Georgian authorities over violence against demonstrators.

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said: “We condemn excessive force used against Georgians exercising their freedom to protest and have suspended our Strategic Partnership with Georgia.”

France, Britain, Ukraine, Poland, Sweden and Lithuania have also voiced concern.

Police block demonstrators during a rally outside the parliament’s building to protest the government’s decision to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union for four years in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Thousands of demonstrators protesting the Georgian government’s decision to suspend negotiations to join the European Union rallied outside the parliament and clashed with police for a second straight night on Friday (November 29, 2024).

The night before, police used water cannons, pepper spray and tear gas to disperse protesters who took to the streets of Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze of the ruling Georgian Dream party announced the suspension. The interior ministry said it detained 43 people during the protests.

On Friday (November 29, 2024) evening, protesters again swarmed the parliament, with some trying to break the metal gates to the building. Riot police used water cannons to push them away from the building and later moved to force them farther back along the Rustaveli Avenue, the city’s main boulevard.

Some of the protesters used garbage bins and benches to try to build barricades.

Clashes between police and protesters also erupted late Friday (November 29, 2024) in the Black Sea port of Batumi.

Disputed victory in the October 26 election

Georgian Dream’s disputed victory in the October 26 election, which was widely seen as a referendum on the country’s aspirations to join the European Union, has sparked massive demonstrations and led to an opposition boycott of the parliament. The opposition said the vote was rigged under the influence of Russia seeking to keep Georgia in its orbit.

President Salome Zourabichvili joined protesters on Thursday after accusing the government of declaring “war” on its own people. In Friday’s address to the nation, Mr. Zourabichvili urged police not to use force against protesters.

The Georgian president, who has a largely ceremonial role, has declared that the ruling party rigged the election with the help of Russia, Georgia’s former imperial master.

The government’s announcement that it was suspending negotiations to join the EU came hours after the European Parliament adopted a resolution that condemned last month’s vote as neither free nor fair, representing yet another manifestation of the continued democratic backsliding “for which the ruling Georgian Dream party is fully responsible.”

EU suspending Georgia’s membership application

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

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

EU lawmakers urged for a rerun of the parliamentary vote within a year under thorough 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.

The Georgian prime minister fired back, denouncing what he described as a “cascade of insults” from the EU politicians and declaring that “the ill-wishers of our country have turned the European Parliament into a blunt weapon of blackmail against Georgia, which is a great disgrace for the European Union.”

“We will continue on our path toward the European Union; however, we will not allow anyone to keep us in a constant state of blackmail and manipulation, which is utterly disrespectful to our country and society,” Kobakhidze said. “We must clearly show certain European politicians and bureaucrats, who are completely devoid of European values, that they must speak to Georgia with dignity, not through blackmail and insults.”

Mr. Kobakhidze also said Georgia would reject any budgetary grants from the EU until the end of 2028.

Critics have accused Georgian Dream — established by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia — of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow. The party recently pushed through laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.

The EU suspended Georgia’s membership application process indefinitely in June, after parliament passed a law requiring organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “pursuing the interest of a foreign power,” similar to a Russian law used to discredit organizations critical of the government.