Georgian police beat and forcibly dispersed protesters in the capital Tbilisi for a fourth night amid angry demonstrations over Prime Minister Irakli Kobahidze's announcement last week that his Georgian Dream government was suspending talks to join the European Union (EU) until 2028.
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Ski-masked police fought in the streets and at a metro station in central Rustaveli after using water cannons to break up a protest near parliament, making more arrests and using tear gas and chemical spray in another crackdown that was launched for about two hours on the morning of December 2nd.
So far, at least 200 people have been detained, but the number of detainees from the last night of unrest in the post-Soviet Caucasian state of around four million inhabitants is still unclear.
The founder of the opposition party "Girchi-More Freedom", Zura Girchi Japaridze, was among those detained during the night.
Prime Minister Kobahidze said President Salome Zurabishvili must step down at the end of her term later this month. His announcement comes despite her vow not to remain in office as the constitutional dispute continues after last month's national election in which Georgian Dream, which has ruled the country for more than a decade, won.
Zurabishvili and the opposition have alleged fraud and other improprieties and refuse to recognize the new parliament, which last week set indirect elections for a new president for December 14 despite ongoing legal challenges.
Most Georgians support EU membership, and efforts to join the bloc are enshrined in the Georgian constitution.
But this year's enactment of what Zurabishvili and critics call the ruling Georgian Dream's "Russian law" cracking down on foreign-funded NGOs and media, as well as a controversial LGBT rights law and public attacks on the West by Kobakhidze and other officials have sparked fears that the current government is leading the country back into the Russian orbit.
Western governments have questioned parliamentary elections in October, in which Georgian Dream won 54 percent of the vote, claiming the election was marred by fraud and Russian influence.
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 groups.
The United States announced in July that it would suspend more than $95 million in aid to the Georgian government, warning it was backsliding on democracy.
Zurabishvili, who has allied with the pro-European opposition, has argued that parliament has no right to choose her successor after her term expires in December and has vowed to stay in office.
"There is no legitimate parliament, and therefore the illegitimate parliament cannot elect a new president," she said on November 30.
On December 1, protesters gathered in the yard of the public broadcaster Kanal 1, blocking the entrance and vowing to stay until the organization's leaders resign.
Channel 1 stated in a statement that "viewers are following unprecedented pressure" on its journalists.
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