A fourth consecutive night of protests is underway across Georgia against the government's decision to suspend European Union accession talks. Officials in the country say at least 44 people have been hospitalized in increasingly violent demonstrations. The Interior Ministry said that 27 protesters, 16 police officers and one media worker were taken to hospital. Tens of thousands of protesters, mostly gathered outside parliament in the capital Tbilisi, threw stones and fireworks at squads of police officers. Police officers used water cannons, tear gas and pepper spray in a bid to disperse crowds. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze warned that, "any violation of the law will be met with the full rigor of the law." "Neither will those politicians who hide in their offices and sacrifice members of their violent groups to severe punishment escape responsibility," he said at a briefing on Sunday. He insisted however that Georgia's European integration had not been halted. "The only thing we have rejected is the shameful and offensive blackmail, which was, in fact, a significant obstacle to our country's European integration." The unrest began four days ago when the government, headed by the populist Georgian Dream party, announced it was suspending EU accession talks until at least 2028. That was in response to a European Parliament resolution that criticized the 26 October parliamentary elections which saw the Georgian Dream re-elected as neither free nor fair. It said the election represented another manifestation of Georgia's continued democratic backsliding "for which the ruling Georgian Dream party is fully responsible." International observers say they saw instances of violence, bribery and double voting at the polls, prompting some EU lawmakers to demand a re-run. On Sunday, the EU's Foreign Policy chief Kaja Kallas and enlargement commissioner Marta Kos released a joint statement on the decision to suspend membership negotiations. "We note that this announcement marks a shift from the policies of all previous Georgian governments and the European aspirations of the vast majority of the Georgian people, as enshrined in the Constitution of Georgia," the statement said. The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on condition that it meet the bloc's recommendations, but Brussels put that process on hold earlier this year after the passage of a controversial 'foreign influence' law which was widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms. Critics have also accused Georgian Dream of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow. The party recently pushed through laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights. Meanwhile, Kobakhidze has said President Salome Zourabivhili must vacate her post when her mandate ends later this month. The pro-EU head of state has vowed to stay on to support the protesters and says the "illegitimate" government has no authority to select her successor. In an interview with Euronews, Zourabichvili said the scale of the protests across Georgia was unprecedented, primarily because they have spread beyond the political center, Tbilisi. "Every day there are more people on the streets. And more importantly, there is real dissent growing in the country. In the state institutions, where people are resigning, or protesting, or signing petitions." "We are confronting something very new and we are part of something very new that is happening also geopolitically, I would say, where Russia not winning easily over Ukraine over these past two and a half years is now trying to win over the European Union with electoral war. I would say it's an electoral war. They have carried this electoral war in Georgia and we are fighting against it with constitutional means," she said, addressing claims that Russia had meddled in the elections which saw the Georgian Dream stay in power. "They're fighting the same electoral war in Romania. And they fought it in Moldova...So it's a strategy of Russia." — Euronews
