🔗 Share this article

Georgia's leader, Irakli Kobakhidze, has announced a comprehensive suppression on dissent, accusing demonstrators who attempted to storm the official residence of aiming to overthrow his government and blaming the EU for interference in Georgia's internal matters.

Kobakhidze made these allegations just a day following demonstrators attempted to breach the presidential palace during local elections. Riot police stopped them by using pepper spray and water jets.

"Not a single person will escape responsibility. This includes political responsibility," the prime minister was reported to state.

Law enforcement arrested at least several demonstrators, among them representatives of the largest opposition party and the vocal artist turned campaigner Paata Burchuladze.

Domestic news outlets reported the health ministry as stating that twenty-one police officers and six demonstrators had been injured in clashes in the heart of the capital.

Background of the Political Crisis

The nation of Georgia has been in turmoil since Kobakhidze's ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in the previous year's parliamentary election, which the European-leaning opposition claims was stolen. From that point, Tbilisi's negotiations on entering the bloc have been frozen.

Kobakhidze stated that up to seven thousand people attended the weekend's protest gathering but their "attempt to topple the constitutional order" had been thwarted despite what he described as support from the European Union.

"A number of people have been detained – primarily the leaders of the attempted coup," he told reporters, adding that the country's main opposition force "will no longer be allowed from operating in Georgian politics."

Protest Movement Appeals and Administration Reaction

Protest leaders had urged a "peaceful revolution" against Georgian Dream, which they allege of being aligned with Moscow and authoritarian. The party has been in control since 2012.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the heart of the capital, waving Georgian and EU flags, after an extended period of Kremlin-style raids on independent media, restrictions on non-governmental groups and the arrest of many of critics and campaigners.

The prime minister accused the EU's ambassador to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, of interference. "You know that specific people from overseas have even expressed explicit backing for these actions, for the announced attempt to overthrow the constitutional order," he said, adding that Herczyński "bears special responsibility in this context."

"[Herczyński] should come out, dissociate himself and strictly condemn everything that is occurring on the streets of Tbilisi," stated the prime minister.

EU Position and Ongoing Geopolitical Tensions

In July, the EU's diplomatic service rejected what it termed "false information and unfounded claims" about the Union's supposed involvement in the nation.

The pro-western opposition have been staging protests since last October, when GD secured victory in a national vote that its opponents claim was marred by fraud. The party has rejected allegations of vote-rigging.

Georgia has the goal of EU accession written into its founding document and has long been one of the most Europe-oriented of the former Soviet republics. Its ties with the Western nations have been strained since Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022.

Georgian Dream is directed by its founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country's richest man and a former prime minister, and rejects it is aligned with Russia. It says it wants to join the European Union while maintaining stability with Russia.