TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Police and protesters brutally clashed in Georgia after the country’s ruling party suspended negotiations to join the European Union until 2028.
Police used water cannons, pepper spray and tear gas late Thursday to disperse protesters who took to the streets following the announcement by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze of the ruling Georgian Dream party.
Crowds turned out after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said his government would drop its pursuit of EU membership “until the end of 2028” - a move criticized by more than 100 diplomats on Friday as “unconstitutional”.
Kobakhidze had accused the bloc of “blackmail” after EU legislators called for last month’s parliamentary elections in Georgia to be re-run. They cited “significant irregularities”.
Since 2012, Georgia has been governed by Georgian Dream, a party which critics say has tried to move the country away from the EU and closer to Russia.
The party claimed victory in last month’s election but opposition MPs are boycotting the new parliament, alleging fraud, while the country’s President Salome Zurabishvili, has called the one-party parliament “unconstitutional”.
On Thursday, the European Parliament backed a resolution describing the election as the latest stage in Georgia’s “worsening democratic crisis” and saying that the ruling party was “fully responsible”.
Georgia has had official EU candidate status since 2023. However Brussels had already halted the accession process earlier this year over a Russia-style law targeting organizations accused of “pursuing the interests of a foreign power”.