Yesterday, December 3, thousands of people in Georgia came out for a sixth consecutive night of protest against the government - despite threats of punishment made by the Georgian minister - Chairman Irakli Kobakhidze. They are protesting the pro-Russian government's postponement of EU accession negotiations. Demonstrators gathered outside parliament in the capital Tbilisi, waving Georgian and EU flags, and some protesters threw fireworks at the building. Police used loudspeakers to call on protesters to disperse the demonstration. And then law enforcement officials again used water cannons and tear gas to prevent demonstrators from climbing the walls of the parliament building. Independent Georgian media reported arrests.
"Violence against citizens as a punitive measure"
The pro-European president Salome Zurabishvili described the police action on the X social network as "excessive". She criticized the "mass arrests and bad treatment".
According to data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, since the beginning of the last wave of protests, a total of 293 people have been arrested, and 143 people have been injured. Georgian human rights ombudsman Levan Yosseliani explained that most of the protesters' injuries "were on the face, eyes and head". The nature and severity of the injuries "strongly indicate that the police used violence against citizens as a punitive measure," which "constitutes an act of torture," he added.
The Georgian Minister of Internal Affairs accused the protesters of throwing various types of objects and fireworks at the police. Prime Minister Kobakhidze earlier accused opposition groups of deliberately using violence during mass protests against the government, and yesterday threatened to punish political opponents. According to him, the politicians from the opposition have "organized the violence in the last few days".
Georgia and the EU membership negotiations
Mass protests in the Caucasian country began on Thursday last week, November 28. They are directed against the postponement of the negotiations for the country's accession to the EU announced by Prime Minister Kobakhidze until 2028.
Georgia is officially a candidate for EU membership from December 2023. Since then, however, the pro-Moscow government has passed several laws that have caused great concern in Brussels, including a Russian-style law against "foreign influence". Therefore, at the end of June, the EU froze Georgia's accession process. The opposition accuses the government of trying to distance Georgia from the EU and bring the former Soviet republic closer to Russia.