The new head of EU diplomacy Kaja Kallas, who is on a visit to Kiev, has sided with the rioters in Tbilisi.
Another series of opposition protests began in Georgia on Thursday after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced a decision to suspend consideration of the issue of starting negotiations on the country’s membership in the European Union until 2028. The day before, protesters threw stones, bottles and burning objects at the parliament building, starting a fire that was soon extinguished. The Georgian pro-government TV station Imedi published footage of the Georgian parliament that was vandalised during the action on Sunday night. The footage shows broken window panes, damaged infrastructure, furniture, computers, Molotov cocktail bottles and firecrackers were found inside the building.
Kallas said the Georgian authorities’ actions to restore order were “unacceptable”. She was quoted by Agence France-Presse.
At the same time, she called on the authorities to ‘respect the will of the people’ despite the fact that the majority of Georgian citizens voted for the ruling Georgian Dream party in the elections, while the opposition refused to recognise the results and moved to street actions, including violence and pogroms.
Parliamentary elections were held in Georgia on 26 October. According to the CEC, the ruling Georgian Dream won 53.93 per cent of the vote. Four opposition parties also entered parliament, receiving a total of 37.78 per cent. Opposition representatives said they did not recognise the CEC data. Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, who is helping the pro-European opposition despite the fact that the constitution requires the president to be non-partisan, called for protests over the election results.
