Violent protests in Tbilisi as Georgian government suspends EU entry talks

Violent clashes broke out in Tbilisi on Thursday night as thousands of Georgians took to the streets to protest the ruling Georgian Dream party’s decision to suspend negotiations on the country’s EU accession until 2028.

Pro-EU demonstrators gathered outside Tbilisi’s parliament building on Thursday evening after Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili accused the government of declaring “war” on its people by postponing the talks, setting up barricades as riot police were deployed to the scene.

Police ordered protesters to disperse before using tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons despite near-freezing temperatures overnight, Reuters reported, with footage shared on social media showing police detaining protesters who had taken refuge in shops after the rally was dispersed on Friday morning.

Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said that 43 protesters had been detained for disobeying police orders and petty hooliganism, and that 32 law enforcement officers had been injured as a result of “illegal and violent actions” by those demonstrating.

“Throughout the night, protesters set fire to unidentified objects on Rustaveli Avenue, erected barricades, damaged property belonging to the Tbilisi municipality and private individuals, and threw glass bottles, stones, metal objects and pyrotechnics at the police”, it said in a statement.

Independent media outlets also reported that around 15 journalists had been injured in what appeared to be a deliberate attempt by police to target members of the press.

Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that Georgia would remove talks on future EU membership from its agenda and refuse budgetary grants from the bloc until the end of 2028, when it would be “adequately economically prepared to open negotiations for accession to the European Union in 2030”.

“We must clearly show the relevant European politicians and bureaucrats, who are completely devoid of European values, that they should not speak to Georgia with blackmail and insults, but with dignity”, Kobakhidze said.

The move came in response to a European Parliament resolution that criticised Georgia’s parliamentary elections in October as “neither free nor fair” and accused Georgian Dream of being responsible for the country’s “continued democratic backsliding”.

Zourabachvili, who joined the protest on Thursday evening, called Georgian Dream’s decision to suspend EU accession talks the culmination of a “constitutional coup unfolding for weeks” and said that the government had declared “war” on its people by taking Georgia “from Europe towards Russia”.