In the early hours of Friday, the 29th of November, widespread protests and police clashes with protesters took place in the Georgian capital Tbilisi after the country’s ruling Georgian Dream party announced that the government would suspend negotiations on European Union (EU) accession and withdraw budget subsidies until 2028, reports Reuters.
Georgia’s relations with the EU have deteriorated in recent months, with Brussels claiming that the Georgian government has resorted to authoritarian methods and is taking a pro-Russian stance. The EU had already announced that Georgia’s EU membership application was frozen.
Before the clashes began, thousands of pro-European protesters had blocked the streets of the capital. The President accused the government of declaring “war” on its own people and confronted the police, asking whether they were serving Georgia or Russia.
The police ordered the protesters to disperse, fired water cannons and used pepper and tear gas when they tried to break into parliament. Some protesters threw fireworks at the police, shouting “Russians” and “slaves”.
Georgian security forces began dispersing protesters with tear gas and water cannons.
They are now heading to the center of the rally on the Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi. pic.twitter.com/20Vkir2DGC
— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (BlueSky too) (@Archer83Able) November 28, 2024
After the demonstrators were repelled from entering the Parliament building, they started to build barricades around it.
“We are Georgia”, protest continues. pic.twitter.com/8Vbg9K3oZB
— Mariam Nikuradze (@mari_nikuradze) November 28, 2024
Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party accused the EU of a “cascade of insults”, saying in a statement that it was using the accession talks to “blackmail” the country and “organise a revolution in the country”.
As a result, it said: “We have decided not to put the issue of opening negotiations with the European Union on the agenda until the end of 2028. We also refuse any budgetary grants from the European Union until the end of 2028.”
Georgia, historically pro-Western and with EU accession enshrined in its constitution, remains committed to EU membership despite diplomatic tensions with Brussels and closer relations with Russia, according to the ruling Georgian Dream party.
Public support for EU membership remains strong at 80% and the bloc’s flag is displayed alongside national flags on government buildings.
Well-known opposition leader Giorgi Vashadze wrote on Facebook: “The self-proclaimed, illegitimate government has already legally signed the betrayal of Georgia and the Georgian people.”
President Salome Zurabishvili, a pro-European critic of the Georgian Dream, said the ruling party had “declared not peace but war on its people, its past and its future”.
BNN has already reported that Zurabshvili’s presidency will end in December and the ruling Georgian Dream party has nominated a former lawmaker with strong anti-Western views as its next president.
On Thursday, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told reporters that EU membership could harm Georgia’s economy, as Tbilisi would have to cancel visa-free agreements and trade deals with other countries.
The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 but has said that a series of laws since then adopted by the Georgian Dream, including restrictions on “foreign agents” and LGBT rights, are authoritarian, Russian-inspired and are obstacles to EU membership.
Russia and Georgia have had no formal diplomatic relations since Moscow won the short war in 2008, and opinion polls show that most Georgians dislike Russia, which continues to support the two breakaway regions of Georgia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised the “courage and character” he said the Georgian authorities had shown in adopting the law on foreign agents during a visit to Kazakhstan.