POLICE IN GEORGIA arrested 43 protesters during a violent crackdown on an overnight protest against the government’s decision to delay pursuing membership of the EU.
A total of 32 police officers were injured, according to the interior ministry, as thousands rallied in the capital, Tbilisi, and other cities across the country after the Prime Minister announced the decision yesterday evening.
The interior ministry labelled the demonstrators ‘hooligans’ as riot police fired rubber bullets and tear gas, and deployed water cannons, beating peaceful protesters and journalists outside the parliament building in Tbilisi, an AFP reporter saw.
The move comes amid a post-election crisis that has seen the president challenge the legitimacy of the newly elected parliament and government.
Two female politicians from the opposition Coalition for Change, Elene Khoshtaria and Nana Malashkhia, were reportedly injured during the protests. Khoshtaria sustained a broken arm, while Malashkhia suffered a broken nose, the coalition said.
The prime minister’s announcement came hours after the European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution rejecting the results of Georgia’s recent parliamentary elections, alleging “significant irregularities”.
But he pledged to continue implementing reforms, asserting: “By 2028, Georgia will be more prepared than any other candidate country to open accession talks with Brussels and become a member state in 2030.”
Opposition lawmakers are boycotting the new parliament, alleging fraud in the October elections, in which the ruling Georgian Dream party gained a new majority.
President Zurabishvili – at loggerheads with the ruling party Georgian Dream – has declared the ballot “unconstitutional” and is seeking to annul the election results through the Constitutional Court.
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