Protests are intensifying in Georgia

Georgia’s government’s contentious decision to postpone the former Soviet nation’s attempt to join the European Union has sparked days of protests.

The South Caucasus country of 3.7 million people has been experiencing tensions for months. Critics say the ruling Georgian Dream party has turned away from the West and adopted increasingly authoritarian, pro-Russia policies, dampening hopes for Georgia’s long-promised path to EU membership.

Police have violently suppressed the rallies as thousands of demonstrators and the ruling party engage in a growing conflict over Georgia’s future and whether to strengthen its connections with Europe or Russia.

Tensions increased after Georgian Dream won a controversial election in late October that many saw as a referendum on EU membership.

Following its 1991 independence from the Soviet Union, Georgia has long sought EU membership, with the bloc’s inclusion in its constitution as a stated objective.

Polls show that Georgians generally support the program, and when the country received EU candidate status last year, it appeared to be moving in the right direction.

However, the administration made a decision that infuriated many when it indicated a shift away from Europe on November 28.

Due to purported anomalies, the European Parliament rejected Georgia’s election results, prompting Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze to announce that the country would halt EU admission talks for four years.

The Georgian Dream ruling bloc charged that the EU was “blackmailing” Georgia and “organizing a revolution in the country” by threatening to hold accession discussions.

According to the statement, “We have chosen to postpone the topic of initiating talks with the European Union until the end of 2028.” “We also decline any European Union budgetary grant until the end of 2028.”

The government’s action prompted thousands of Georgians who support Europe to take to the streets of the country’s capital, Tbilisi, where they have been gathering for several nights in defiance of a brutal police response.

According to Reuters footage, demonstrators are yelling “Russian slaves” and waving EU and Georgian flags at the police personnel manning the parliament building. In addition to men in balaclavas storming into the masses and abusing people, police also used tear gas and water cannons on demonstrators.

According to Reuters, the protests have extended outside of the capital, with at least eight cities and towns in Georgia reporting disturbances.

Formula, an opposition television channel, showed residents of Khashuri, a central town, pulling down the Georgian Dream party’s banner and hurling eggs at the local office. According to Georgian news agency Interpress, protesters also locked down a route leading to the nation’s principal commercial port in the Black Sea city of Poti.

Georgian authorities reported that protestors threw stones and glass bottles at police, leading to more than 100 arrests. There have also been dozens of hospital admissions.

Locals have commented on how aggressively the police responded, which has drawn widespread international condemnation.

Georgia winemaker Tsotne Jafaridze told CNN, “I’ve witnessed a lot of protests in Georgia: during this government, during the previous government—I also remember some from Soviet times.” However, the level of violence directed toward women, elderly people, and really young men was unthinkable.

Pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili, whose authority is primarily ceremonial, asserted that police “targeted journalists and political leaders.”

She criticized the demonstrations for what she described as “brutal and disproportionate attacks on the Georgian people and media, reminiscent of Russian-style repression.”

In December of last year, the US non-profit National Democratic Institute conducted a poll that found nearly 80% of Georgians are in favor of European integration.

Additionally, many Georgians deeply despise Russia, which invaded Georgia in 2008 and currently controls 20% of its internationally recognized territory.

Many Georgians dread growing Russification, and thousands of Russians, particularly males of service age, have fled to Georgia to avoid conscription since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. This has torn the nation’s social fabric.

A Russian oligarch founded the Georgian Dream, which has grown more autocratic in recent years. Georgia’s political rivals, as well as the US and EU, were alarmed by its campaign for a new Russian-style “foreign agent” law earlier this year, which gives the government the power to crack down on watchdogs.

Experts have cautioned that the halt of EU negotiations is yet another indication that Georgian Dream is leading the nation away from democracy.

It’s a warning sign. It indicates that the government is prepared to take this considerably farther,” Ketevan Chachava, a non-resident fellow with the Center for European Policy Analysis’s (CEPA) Democratic Resilience Program, told CNN.

“I am concerned that Georgia is turning into a non-democratic, unfree state where people’s rights are not upheld,” she remarked.