Day 4 of protests in Georgia continues as the ruling party freezes EU talk till 2028, as announced on Thursday, 28 November 2024.
Sunday night saw day 4 of protesters on the streets of Tbilisi, Georgia after the government announced the delay in EU integration by 4 years. Signs of opposition spread across the country and the countryside towards this decision of suspension by the government.
The Protests
The rising tensions between the ruling, Georgian Dream Party and the opposition for the latter has been accusing the former of ‘increasingly authoritarian’, ‘anti-western’ and ‘pro-Russian’ policies for months.
The civil unrest and crisis deepen as thousands of Pro-EU protesters take to the streets and are faced with armed police authorities armed with water canons and tear gas. Moreover, on 1 December 2024, the Georgian news agency, Interpress reported activists had blocked access to a road to the country’s main commercial port in the Black Sea city, Poti, beyond the capital.
Police forces clashed with thousands of protesters with said water canons and tear gas on Tbilisi’s Central Rustaveli Avenue. Demonstrators retaliated with fireworks, provoking authorities to push the activists away from the Parliament building and into neighbouring streets. “It’s exhausting to see our government ignoring the will of its people,” said protester Nikoloz Miruashvili. “We are fighting for our European future and democracy,” Reuters reports.
The Russian Federation
Former Russian President and Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev described this ongoing protest as an attempted revolution. He remarked through Telegram that Georgia was “moving along rapidly towards the Ukrainian path, and into a dark abyss.” He also added that this sort of thing usually ends very badly.
And though the Kremlin is yet to comment on the ongoing unrest in Georgia, they’ve previously remained accusatory of the West for instigating revolutions in Post-Soviet regions that Moscow still considers under its sphere of influence.
Georgian Statements
Georgian Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze dismissed any criticism received from the U.S. regarding condemning the use of “excessive force” against demonstrators.
Without the presence of evidence of foreign involvement, PM Kobakhidze told a press conference, “Despite the heaviest systematic violence applied yesterday by the violent groups and their foreign instructors, the police acted at a higher standard than the American and European ones and successfully protected the state from another attempt to violate the constitutional order.”
He proceeded to shrug off D.C.’s announcement on Saturday about suspending a strategic partnership with Georgia. He marked this as a “temporary event”, and Georgia will talk to the New Trump Administration when it takes office in January.
As civil unrest continues to grow, opposition parties and groups urge employers to grant paid leaves to those protesting, boosting the calls for a united stand against the government’s tendentious policies.
