Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said on Sunday that protesters attempting to storm the Georgiam presidential palace on Saturday night were trying to overthrow the government. Police in the capital, Tbilisi, used water cannons and pepper spray to disperse the crowd of 7,000 to 10,000 people. Demonstrators were demanding early elections and calling for a “peaceful revolution,” accusing the government of authoritarianism and aligning too closely with Russia.
Kobakhidze, for his part, accused the European Union of meddling in Georgian politics, specifically pointing fingers at EU ambassador Paweł Herczynski. Kobakhidze has previously said foreign intelligence services are financing anti-government protests in his country in the hope of staging a ‘Maidan-like’ coup. Last month, German Ambassador to Georgia Peter Fischer was summoned to the Georgian Foreign Ministry after the PM accused him of political interference.
The Interior Ministry on Sunday announced that it had launched an investigation into “calls to violently change the constitutional order of Georgia or overthrow state power,” and arrested five protest leaders who could face up to nine years in prison.
The protest coincided with local elections, which the opposition boycotted in protest, claiming government repression. The ruling Georgian Dream party won by a landslide in every municipality, taking more than 80% of the vote. Ahead of the elections, the PM reiterated his commitment to democracy, stability, and EU integration.
Georgia’s opposition has been staging protests since October last year, when the Georgia Dream party won 54% of the vote in parliamentary elections whose legitimacy has been questioned by EU officials and Western liberals.
While Georgian Dream has formally committed itself to achieving EU membership, it has also antagonized Brussels by rejecting parts of the ‘woke’ agenda. Passing pro-family legislation and restricting ‘foreign agents’ have each heightened tensions, prompting the withdrawal of EU visas for Tbilisi’s diplomats.
