The protests initially erupted towards October’s disputed parliamentary elections, wherein the opposition accused Georgian Dream of rigging, however have taken on a brand new dimension following final Thursday’s determination to droop EU accession negotiations till 2028.
A delegation from the European Parliament visited Georgia and marched alongside pro-EU protesters towards the federal government’s determination to droop accession negotiations, now of their second week.
The six deputies additionally met with Georgia’s pro-Western president, Salome Zourabichvili, in addition to representatives of the opposition, civil society and the media.
The six members of the delegation had been Rasa Juknevičienė from Lithuania and Michał Szczerba from Poland, each members of the European People’s Party.
Nathalie Loiseau and Bernard Guetta from France, from the Renew Europe group.
The German Tobias Kremer of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats and the Dutch Reinier van Lanschot, member of the Greens/European Free Alliance.
Police reportedly resorted to heavier ways in an try to quell the unrest with greater than 400 protesters, together with opposition leaders and activists, arrested and greater than 100 folks injured.
More than 50 journalists had been additionally injured in the course of the night-time protests.
The ruling Georgian Dream retained management of parliament within the disputed October 26 election, a vote broadly seen as a referendum on Georgia’s EU aspirations.
The opposition accused the ruling occasion of manipulating the vote by serving to neighboring Russia preserve what they name the “Moscow-friendly” Georgian dream in energy.
A shift in emphasis
But anti-election protests have taken on a brand new dimension and unfold past the capital Tbilisi following the Georgian Dream’s November 28 determination to droop EU accession negotiations till a minimum of 2028.
This determination was in response to a European Parliament decision criticizing the elections as neither free nor honest.
He stated the election represents one other manifestation of Georgia’s continued democratic backsliding “for which the ruling Georgian Dream occasion is absolutely accountable.”
International observers say they’ve witnessed circumstances of violence, corruption and double voting on the polls, prompting some EU lawmakers to name for a brand new vote.
The EU granted Georgia candidate standing in December 2023 on the situation that it complied with the bloc’s suggestions, however Brussels suspended that course of earlier this 12 months after the passage of a controversial international affect regulation, which it was broadly seen as a blow to democratic freedoms. .
Critics have additionally accused the Georgian Dream of turning into more and more authoritarian and tilting in the direction of Moscow. The occasion has lately pushed for legal guidelines much like these utilized by the Kremlin to crack down on free speech and LGBTQ+ rights.
