Georgia seeing its third night of protests after gov’t suspended EU accession talks
Reuters/aa/jd
30.11.2024, 20:47
Protests continued in Georgia on Saturday against government's decision to halt EU membership talks. Photo: PAP/EPA/DAVID MDZINARISHVILI
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Thousands of protesters gathered late on Saturday for the third successive night in Tbilisi amid a large police presence of riot police to rally against the Government's decision to halt talks on EU membership.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili called the government illegitimate on Saturday and said she would not leave office when her term ends next month, defying the prime minister as he accused pro-EU opposition forces of plotting revolution.
The South Caucasus country was thrown into crisis on Thursday, when Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s Georgian Dream party said it was halting European Union accession talks for the next four years over what it called “blackmail” of Georgia by the bloc, abruptly reversing a long-standing national goal.
EU membership is overwhelmingly popular in Georgia, which has the aim of joining the bloc enshrined in its constitution, and the sudden freezing of accession talks has triggered large protests in the mountainous country of 3.7 million people.
