Protesters gathered in Georgian cities again on Tuesday evening after the country’s constitutional court rejected a bid to challenge disputed parliamentary elections and its government claimed to have thwarted a foreign-backed revolution.
The biggest rally was again outside Georgia’s parliament in the heart of its capital, Tbilisi, where thousands of demonstrators massed for a sixth night despite more than 200 people being arrested and dozens hurt in clashes with police since the protests erupted last Thursday.
The spark was a decision by the ruling Georgian Dream party to take European Union accession talks “off the agenda” until at least 2028, despite polls showing that about 80 per cent of people in the Black Sea state of 3.7 million want to join the bloc.
That announcement rekindled widespread anger over parliamentary elections in October that opposition parties and Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili said were rigged, and allegedly showed that the government of Irakli Kobakhidze was leading Georgia away from a democratic future with the West and back towards autocratic Russia.
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“The attempt to organise the Maidan in Georgia is already over. I would call on everybody to keep quiet,” Mr Kobakhidze said on Tuesday, comparing events in Georgia to the 2014 Ukrainian revolution centred on the Maidan square in central Kyiv, which ended with dozens of protesters being killed and the country’s leaders fleeing to Russia.
Mr Kobakhidze has accused unnamed EU politicians and western-funded civil society groups of working with Georgian opposition parties to oust his government, which was criticised by the EU and US this year for tightening controls over non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and restricting LGBT+ rights; the US suspended its strategic partnership with Georgia last weekend.
“Opposition leaders and leaders of their NGOs were hiding in their offices during these days, but responsibility is responsibility and, of course, this responsibility must be met in accordance with the constitution and the law,” Mr Kobakhidze warned.
[ Georgia’s president urges EU to act as anti-government protests continueOpens in new window ]
Ms Zourabichvili condemned the constitutional court’s decision not to consider claims that October’s election was rigged and said she was now the only legitimate authority left in the country, in opposition to Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder and de facto leader of Georgian Dream, who made his fortune in Russia.
“The government has one constitutional, legitimate institution left, and that is me. It is a very big responsibility and there remains on the other side one person who has completely usurped power in this country ... This is Ivanishvili, and we must find a solution for this country that will be peaceful,” she said on Tuesday.
“It will be his responsibility to return his regime to non-violent mode, to listen to the people. My responsibility is to lead this country to new elections, which will legitimately elect tomorrow’s government.”
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