More than 40 people have been injured as police and anti-government protesters clashed in Georgia for a third night.
Police deployed water cannons and tear gas on the streets of the capital city Tbilisi – with protesters opposed to the country’s government responding with stones and fireworks.
Footage shared online shows one protester firing at police with an improvised firework gun.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry said on Sunday that 27 protesters, 16 police and one media worker were admitted to hospital.
The Georgian Dream party – seen as being pro-Russian – won a disputed election in November, with opponents claiming the election had suffered from interference from Russia, which borders the Caucasus country to the north.
The country was formerly part of the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union, and the opposition claims Moscow helped to rig the election in order to keep the country in its orbit and stop talks about better integration with the rest of Europe.
Russia previously fought a war against Georgia in 2008 and recognised two breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as independent from Tbilisi.
Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze denied that European integration had been halted and added that ‘any violation of the law will be met with the full rigor of the law’.
At a briefing on Sunday, he said: “Neither will those politicians who hide in their offices and sacrifice members of their violent groups to severe punishment escape responsibility.
“The only thing we have rejected is the shameful and offensive blackmail, which was, in fact, a significant obstacle to our country’s European integration.”
Critics have accused Georgian Dream of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted towards Moscow. The party recently pushed through laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.
Speaking to the Associated Press on Saturday, Georgia’s pro-Western president, Salome Zourabichvili, said her country is becoming a “quasi-Russian” state and that Georgian Dream controls the major institutions.
“We are not demanding a revolution. We are asking for new elections, but in conditions that will ensure that the will of the people will not be misrepresented or stolen again,” she said.
“Georgia has been always resisting Russian influence and will not accept having its vote stolen and its destiny stolen.”
The government’s announcement that it was suspending negotiations to join the EU came hours after the European Parliament adopted a resolution criticising October’s vote as neither free nor fair.
It said the election represented another manifestation of Georgia’s continued democratic backsliding “for which the ruling Georgian Dream party is fully responsible”.
The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on condition that it meets the bloc’s recommendations, but put its accession on hold and cut financial support earlier this year after the passage of a “foreign influence” law widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.
