Journalists are injured in a clash between Georgian police and demonstrators against the postponement of EU accession

Police have clashed with protesters in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, attacking and wounding journalists, after the country’s ruling party said the government would suspend talks on joining the European Union and refuse budget subsidies until 2028.

Police ordered protesters to disperse, fired water cannon and deployed pepper spray and tear gas as masked youths tried to enter parliament.

Some demonstrators threw fireworks at police while shouting “Russians” and “Slavs!” shouted.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, three police officers were injured.

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Independent news organization OC Media said journalist and co-director Mariam Nikuradze was hit with “what appeared to be pepper spray mixed with… the water cannons”.

She sought medical help, adding that the incident took place after Nikuradze captured the moment a TV Pirveli cameraman fell to the ground as police charged the crowd.

It later reported that riot police fired tear gas at editor-in-chief Robin Fabbro, who was “wearing a vest that clearly identified him as a member of the press.”

Online publication Publika said journalist Aleksandre Keshelashvili “was beaten and arrested while covering the protest.”

“He was taken to the police station and released after a few hours with a handwritten note. He has a broken nose and is being taken to hospital,” the newspaper said. a message on X.

Police also arrested some protesters.

EU application frozen

Georgia’s relations with the EU have deteriorated sharply in recent months as Brussels claimed the government had resorted to authoritarian measures and taken pro-Russian positions.

Thousands of pro-EU demonstrators had blocked the streets in the capital before the altercations began. The country’s figurehead president accused the government of declaring war on its own people and confronted riot police with the question of whether they served Georgia or Russia.

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The Georgian Dream ruling bloc accused the EU of “a cascade of insults” and said in a statement that it was using the prospect of accession negotiations to “blackmail” the country and “organize a revolution in the country”.

As a result, the report said: “We have decided not to put the issue of opening negotiations with the European Union on the agenda until the end of 2028. We also refuse any budget subsidy from the European Union until the end of 2028.”

The South Caucasus country of 3.7 million has set the goal of joining the EU in its constitution and has long been one of the most pro-Western successor states to the Soviet Union.

After months of deteriorating relations between Tbilisi and Brussels, the EU had already said that Georgia’s membership application had been frozen.

Georgian Dream says it is not pro-Russian and is committed to democracy and integration with the West.

It says it still wants to eventually join the EU, but has engaged in repeated diplomatic feuds with Brussels in recent years while deepening ties with neighboring Russia.

There was no immediate formal comment from the EU on the Georgian Dream statement. But an EU official said the impact of Thursday’s move was huge, adding that the government was doing what the EU had feared and hoped would not happen.

Opinion polls show that around 80 percent of Georgians support EU membership, and the bloc’s flag flies alongside the national flag outside almost all government buildings in the country.

The pro-Western opposition reacted angrily to the Georgian Dream announcement as demonstrators gathered. Local media reported that protests broke out in provincial towns.

‘War’ against people

Giorgi Vashadze, a prominent opposition leader, wrote on Facebook: “The self-proclaimed illegitimate government has already legally signed the betrayal of Georgia and the Georgian people.”

President Salome Zourabichvili, a pro-EU critic of Georgian Dream whose powers are largely ceremonial, said the ruling party had “declared not peace, but war against its own people, its past and future.”

Zourabichvili’s term expires in December and Georgian Dream has nominated a former lawmaker with hardline anti-Western views to replace her.

The opposition says the October elections, in which official results gave the Georgian Dream bloc almost 54 percent of the vote, were fraudulent and have refused to take their seats. Western countries demand an investigation into irregularities.

Both Georgian Dream and the country’s election commission say the elections were free and fair.

Earlier on Thursday, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told journalists that EU membership could hurt Georgia’s economy as it would require Tbilisi to cancel visa-free and trade deals with other countries.

The EU gave Georgia candidate country status in December 2023, but has said a series of laws passed by Georgian Dream since then, including restrictions on “foreign agents” and LGBT rights, are authoritarian, Russian-inspired and create obstacles for EU membership.

Foreign and domestic critics of Georgian Dream say the party, seen as dominated by its billionaire founder, ex-prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, is sending Georgia back to Moscow, from which it gained independence in 1991.

Russia and Georgia have not had formal diplomatic ties since Moscow won a brief war in 2008, but have had limited rapprochement recently.

Opinion polls show that most Georgians dislike Russia, which continues to support two breakaway Georgian regions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a visit to Kazakhstan, praised the “courage and character” he said Georgian authorities had shown in passing the foreign agents law, which domestic critics have compared to Russian law.

Reuters/ABC