Thousands of demonstrators protesting the Georgian government's decision to suspend negotiations on the country's accession to the European Union (EU) gathered in front of the parliament in the capital Tbilisi this evening for the second consecutive night, surrounded by heavy police forces.
The night before, police used water cannons, pepper spray and tear gas to disperse protesters who took to the streets after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze of the ruling Georgian Dream party announced the suspension of negotiations.
The Ministry of the Interior announced that 43 people were detained during the protest.
Tonight, the protesters came again in front of the Parliament, some of them banging on the metal gates of the building. Riot police were deployed in large numbers to protect the building and a water cannon could be seen parked nearby.
Georgia has been in political turmoil since parliamentary elections on October 26 in which Georgian Dream secured 54 percent of the vote, with opposition and Western government members claiming the vote was marred by law-breaking and Russian influence. The election was seen as a referendum on the country's EU membership aspirations and the results prompted large demonstrations and led to an opposition boycott of parliament.
The opposition says the vote was rigged under the influence of Russia, which seeks to keep Georgia within its orbit.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, a harsh critic of the ruling Georgian Dream party, joined a protest in Tbilisi yesterday as a sign of solidarity with the demonstrators. Earlier yesterday, she addressed the nation and accused the government of declaring "war" on its own people.
The Georgian president, who has a largely ceremonial role, said the ruling party rigged the election with the help of Russia.
The government's announcement that it is suspending EU accession talks until 2028 and will not accept funding from Brussels came hours after the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning last month's vote, saying it was neither free nor fair, and represented further democratic the decline of the country for which "the Georgian Dream party is fully responsible".
Georgia won EU candidate status in December 2023, but relations with Brussels have soured in recent months, starting with the adoption of a controversial "foreign agents" law that critics say threatens to publicly discredit thousands of media and civil society organizations.
The EU suspended Georgia's membership application indefinitely in June when parliament passed a law requiring organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as "following the interests of a foreign power", similar to the Russian law used to discredit organizations critical of the government.
The United States of America (US) announced in July that it would suspend more than $95 million in aid to the Georgian government, warning that it was backsliding in democracy.
Bonus video:
