By Felix Light
TBILISI (Reuters) – Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said on Tuesday that an attempt to stage what he called a “revolution” in the country had failed, after a fifth successive night of protests against a decision to suspend talks to join the European Union.
Georgia, one of the former Soviet Union’s most pro-Western successor states since 1991, has been gripped by crisis since last Thursday, when the ruling Georgian Dream party announced it was halting European Union accession talks until 2028.
In a setback for critics of the government, Georgia’s constitutional court on Tuesday declined to hear a lawsuit seeking to annul the results of an Oct. 26 parliamentary election. It was officially won by Georgian Dream with almost 54% of the vote but the opposition says it was tainted by fraud.
The case was brought by President Salome Zourabichvili, a pro-EU critic of the ruling party who backs the protests. However, her powers are mostly ceremonial and her term ends next month.
Responding to a question from Reuters at a press briefing, Kobakhidze said: “The attempt to organise the Maidan in Georgia is already over. I would call on everybody to keep quiet.”
Kobakhidze was referring to the 2014 Maidan uprising in Ukraine, which led to the ousting and flight of a pro-Russian president after he ditched a trade agreement with the EU.
Thousands of protesters gathered for a fifth night on Monday, rallying outside the parliament building in Tbilisi, and in smaller cities around the mountainous country of 3.7 million.
VIOLENCE ON STREETS
The protesters in Tbilisi hurled fireworks at riot police who responded with tear gas and water cannon. The protesters also built barricades along the city’s central Rustaveli Avenue, and the clashes continued into the early hours of Tuesday.
Local media cited the interior ministry as reporting that 22 people had been arrested and 12 law enforcement personnel injured. Twenty three protesters were taken to hospital, they said.
A 22-year-old man was in intensive care, having suffered brain damage after being struck with a tear gas canister, the Interpress news agency reported.
At Tuesday’s briefing, Kobakhidze said organisers of the protests would face legal consequences for their role, saying the demonstrations constituted a violent attempt to seize power.
“There are specific persons who committed crimes… And so finally, the prosecution agency, the prosecutor’s office, will make decisions about that,” he added.
(Reporting by Felix Light; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Gareth Jones)
Comments