Police used water cannons, tear gas and pepper spray to confront thousands of pro-Europe protesters who erected barricades in the center of Tbilisi, Georgia, on Saturday (30) local time, after the country’s ruling party announced that would suspend European Union accession negotiations until 2028.
Membership of the European Union is widely popular in Georgia, according to opinion polls, and the decision to suspend negotiations sparked mass protests on Thursday (28), when thousands gathered in front of the parliament building in Tbilisi, being dispersed by riot police using water and gas cannons.
Protesters, carrying Georgian and European Union flags, advanced towards the parliament building, built during the Soviet era, and threw fireworks at police officers. The police forced them to move away from the parliament and along Rustaveli Avenue towards the opera house.
Still in large numbers, the protesters grabbed any available object and positioned themselves on improvised barricades, maintaining a confrontation with the police until well after midnight.
“We will be here every night until they get tired,” said Nika Gvaramia, leader of Georgia’s largest opposition party, the Coalition for Change, as she warmed her hands around a campfire.
“This is our country, we only have one, we will fight for Europe.”
Elene Khoshtaria, another coalition leader, was wearing a sling after fracturing her hand during Thursday’s protest.
“We will not give in, we will not give up,” she said. “But I think the international community should think about how to support people who really believe in European values.”
Hundreds of employees from the country’s Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Education and Justice signed open letters on Friday (29) denouncing the freezing of negotiations as unconstitutional.
A number of private universities announced the suspension of classes amid the unrest, while business groups called on the government to reassess its position.
The ruling “Georgian Dream” party, which won nearly 54% of the vote in October elections that opposition parties allege were rigged, announced on Thursday that it was freezing membership negotiations due to what it called “blackmail.” of the European Union with Georgia.
Relationship with the European Union deteriorates
The decision marks the culmination of months of deterioration in relations between Georgia and the West, which accused the Tbilisi government of authoritarian and pro-Russian leanings.
The Georgian Dream this year passed laws against so-called “foreign agents” and LGBT rights, which critics say are draconian in nature and Russian-inspired.
The party, widely seen as controlled by its founder, billionaire and former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, says its goal is to eventually join the European Union, and that the laws it has passed are necessary to defend Georgia’s traditional values. .
The European Union’s ambassador to Georgia described Georgian Dream’s stance as “heartbreaking” on Friday and condemned the crackdown on protesters.
This content was originally published in Police and protesters clash in Georgia for the second day on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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