Georgia protests: What’s behind them and what’s next?
3 months, 3 weeks ago

Georgia protests: What’s behind them and what’s next?

Al Jazeera  

Tens of thousands of demonstrators have clashed with riot police in Georgia over the past five nights in protests against the governing Georgian Dream party’s decision to suspend talks aimed at joining the European Union until 2028. It exemplifies the ruling Georgian Dream party’s pattern of democratic backsliding, state capture, rigging elections and attempts to undermine Georgia’s European aspirations.” How have Georgia’s authorities responded to the protests? The EU released a statement on Sunday saying the union “regrets Kobakhidze’s statement on Georgian Dream’s decision not to pursue the opening of EU accession negotiations and rejecting EU financial support until 2028”. The door to the EU remains open and the return of Georgia to the European values and the EU accession path is in the hands of the Georgian leadership.” The US Department of State also released a statement on Saturday saying: “By suspending Georgia’s EU accession process, Georgian Dream has rejected the opportunity for closer ties with Europe and made Georgia more vulnerable to the Kremlin.” The statement added: “We reiterate our call to the Georgian government to return to its Euro-Atlantic path, transparently investigate all parliamentary election irregularities, and repeal anti-democratic laws that limit freedoms of assembly and expression.” This referred to laws including the foreign agents bill and an anti-LGBTQ bill that was passed in September. “The future is uncertain, but the protests clearly underscore mounting public dissatisfaction with the government’s blunt deviation from Georgia’s European course,” Akhvlediani said.

History of this topic

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