Fourth night of protests across Georgia after EU accession talks suspension

euronews (in English)

Officials in the country say at least 44 people have been hospitalised in increasingly violent clashes between police and protesters as President Salome Zourabichvili says she won’t step down when her term ends.

Transcript

00:00A fourth consecutive night of protests is underway across Georgia against the government's

00:07decision to suspend European Union accession talks. Officials say at least 44 people have

00:13been hospitalized in increasingly violent clashes between police and protesters. Prime

00:18Minister Irakli Kobahidze has warned that everyone in the country has to obey the law.

00:23The unrest began four days ago when the government, headed by the populist Georgian Dream Party,

00:30announced it was suspending EU accession talks until at least 2028. That was in response

00:37to a European Parliament resolution which criticized the 26th of October parliamentary

00:44elections which saw the Georgian Dream re-elected as neither free nor fair. The EU granted Georgia

00:51candidate status in December 2023, but put that process on hold earlier this year after

00:58the passage of a controversial foreign influence bill. The EU granted Georgia candidate status

01:05in December 2023, but put that process on hold earlier this year after the passage of

01:12a controversial foreign influence law, widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms. Meanwhile,

01:18Kobahidze has said President Salome Zurbashvili must vacate her post when her mandate ends

01:24later this month. The pro-EU head of state has vowed to stay on to support the protesters

01:29and says the illegitimate government has no authority to select her successor. The elections

01:36that led to this parliament and then to the government are not legitimate, they are not

01:43recognized by anyone, they have not been recognized by the Georgian population in the first place,

01:50they have not been recognized by the political forces in the country. Zurbashvili also said

01:56Russia had carried out what she called an electoral war on Georgia and had done the

02:01same in recent elections in Romania and Moldova.

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