Thousands of pro-European demonstrators took to the streets of Tbilisi in Georgia on Saturday, November 30 for a third consecutive evening of protests against the government, accused by the opposition of distracting this country from its ambitions to join the EU.
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On Saturday evening, November 30, the streets of the center of the capital of this Caucasian country, near the Parliament, were filled with demonstrators, many holding EU flags and Georgian flags, AFP journalists noted.
On Thursday and Friday, nighttime demonstrations had already brought together several thousand people in Tbilisi and other cities across the country. They were dispersed by force by the police, who announced that they had arrested nearly 150 people in two days for “ disobedience ” And “ vandalism “, while at least 42 police officers were injured.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidzé on Saturday thanked the police, who according to him “have yesterday defended the constitutional order of Georgia and safeguarded the sovereignty and independence of the nation “.
The pro-European president of Georgia, Salomé Zourabichviliaffirmed Saturday in an interview with AFP that she will refuse to surrender her mandate which ends this year until new legislative elections have been organized in this country in the midst of a political crisis.
“ As long as there are no new elections and a Parliament that elects a new president according to new rules, my mandate will continue », declared Ms. Zourabichvili, breaking with the government which for its part plans to choose the president’s successor on December 14.
Also readIn Georgia, pro-EU protesters clash with riot police again
Washington condemns “ excessive use of force »
American diplomacy denounced on Saturday “ excessive use of force by police » against pro-European demonstrators. “ Georgian people overwhelmingly support European integration “, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement, also announcing the suspension of a partnership program between the United States and Georgia.
Reacting to this American statement, the Georgian president wrote on the social network The suspension of the strategic partnership between the United States and Georgia is the tragic result of Georgia’s anti-democratic, anti-Western, anti-European and anti-Georgian policies. It is clearer than ever that the path it is pursuing leads in only one direction: towards Russia “.
Georgian President Salomé Zourabichvili, at odds with the government, but who only has limited powers, estimated Friday evening that “ the resistance movement has begun “. “ We will remain united until Georgia achieves its goals: returning to the European path and obtaining new elections », declared this former French diplomat who refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the Parliament resulting from the October legislative elections.
Georgia at a turning point
As the presidential election approaches on December 14, the country is at a turning point, between integration into Europe and return to the Russian sphere of influence. For Thornike Gordadzé, researcher at the Jacques Delors Institute, professor at Sciences Po, “thePeople understood that this was a final battle. It’s like in 2013 in Ukraine when the government of [Viktor] Yanukovych turned off the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. That is to say, people still thought that there was still a chance that the country could one day join the European Union. Now the government is telling them very clearly that this is not going to be the case “, he explains.
We are in this moment of truth, in this moment of ultimate confrontation. If this does not happen now for the Georgian population, Georgia can say goodbye to freedom and democracy for many years, but society has not said its last word.
Thornike Gordadzé, researcher at the Jacques Delors Institute, professor at Sciences Po
Thornike Gordadze also emphasizes that in this internal conflict, European countries have a role to play. “ I cannot ignore the fact that there is a lot of expectation among this Georgian population, reactions especially coming from Europe. For the moment, we haven’t heard many messages of support and I don’t know of many places in the world where people are on the barricades with European flags. »
In Georgia today, the European flag is much more prominent than most of the member countries of this union and they create a geopolitical, strategic, moral error on the part of Europeans not to support this movement.
Thornike Gordadzé, researcher at the Jacques Delors Institute, professor at Sciences Po