Police Use Tear Gas Against Pro-EU Protesters In Georgia As Political Crisis Escalates

TBILISI -- Police again moved to disperse thousands of demonstrators in Tbilisi on December 2 after more than 200 people were detained during four previous nights of protests amid anger over government plans to suspend EU accession talks through 2028.

SEE ALSO: The Spark: How Tbilisi's Street Protests Exploded Into Mass Unrest

Police in ski masks used water cannons and tear gas to drive protesters away from the parliament building, where they have gathered each night since November 28 when the ruling Georgian Dream party declared its decision on EU talks.

Protesters continued marching even amid clouds of tear gas released in the streets in the early hours of December 3.

'Here For My Future': Georgian Students Protest EU Delay

Police in Tbilisi used similar tactics the night before to prevent a protest near parliament and made dozens of arrests. RFE/RL journalists said police arrested and beat several demonstrators after they were dispersed around 2 a.m. on December 2.

The brother of an RFE/RL producer described the scene inside a police minivan after he and his sibling were arrested. There was a pool of blood on the floor of the vehicle, which was filled with protesters who had been beaten, Tornike Beradze told RFE/RL.

SEE ALSO: RFE/RL Journalist Arrested, Beaten During Protests In Georgian Capital, Lawyer Says

Tornike Beradze was taken to a clinic to be treated for a concussion, while his brother, Beka, was placed in a pretrial detention facility. Both are scheduled to be released on December 3.

Tornike Beradze said riot police aggressively questioned his brother, who was walking in front of him and a friend. They told the police officers that, if the street was blocked, they would take a different route, but the police started throwing punches.

"I tried to call my brother, be careful, but when I looked back to say that, I had a few more fists in my face,” he told RFE/RL. “As many times as I lifted my head up, there were so many fists, all the special forces who met us were hitting me.”

Georgian Protests Continue With Overnight Clashes In Tbilisi

The Interior Ministry said that 224 protesters were detained on administrative charges and three on criminal charges. In addition, three police officers were hospitalized and 113 others have required medical treatment, the ministry said on December 2.

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said on X that many of the arrested protesters had injuries to their heads and faces. Some people were subjected to systematic beatings between arrest and transportation to detention facilities, she added.

"It's everything but a revolution. This is a huge, I would say, national movement that has truly spread across the entire country, geographically and socially, encompassing all segments of the population," Zurabishvili said earlier on December 2 in an interview with Reuters.

Special forces wearing masks are part of the "violent repression on protesters" taking place on the night of December 2-3, she told CNN, calling it "a step further...against freedom of expression."

Police In Tbilisi Use Tear Gas To Disperse Pro-EU Protesters

The government is carrying out a policy to try to limit the expression of the Georgian people not to go toward Russia, she said.

The response follows Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's "outrageous decision" on EU membership talks, she said.

Kobakhidze warned the opposition that “any violation of the law will be met with the full rigor of the law.”

Politicians who "hide in their offices and sacrifice members of their violent groups" also will not escape "severe punishment,” he said.

Kobakhidze said earlier that Zurabishvili must leave office at the end of her term later this month. His announcement came despite her pledge to stay in office "until a president is legitimately elected" after Georgian Dream, which has ruled the country for over a decade, claimed national elections last month.

Zurabishvili and the opposition have alleged fraud and other improprieties and refuse to recognize the new parliament, which last week scheduled an indirect election for a new president for December 14 despite ongoing legal challenges.

"There is no legitimate parliament, and therefore, an illegitimate parliament cannot elect a new president," she said on November 30.

A majority of Georgians support EU membership, and efforts to join the bloc are mandated in the Georgian Constitution.

But the ruling Georgian Dream's enactment this year of what Zurabishvili and critics call a "Russian law" clamping down on NGOs and media financed from abroad, as well as a controversial bill on LGBT rights and public attacks on the West by Kobakhidze and other officials, have raised fears the current government is leading the country back into Russia's orbit.

Western governments have questioned the October parliamentary elections -- in which Georgian Dream claimed 54 percent of the vote -- arguing the elections were marred by violations and Russian influence.

Georgia received EU candidate status in December 2023 but relations with Brussels have soured in recent months, beginning with the adoption of the controversial "foreign agent" law, which critics say threatens to publicly discredit thousands of media outlets and civil society groups as "serving" outside powers.

SEE ALSO: At Georgian Protests, Journalists Say They're Being Targeted And Beaten

Germany said on December 2 that it still supported Georgia's bid for EU membership, while the Baltic states threatened to impose sanctions on Georgian leaders who oppose the country's move toward joining the group.

"The door to Europe remains open for Georgia. But what is important is that Georgia decides to take this path, and the people we see protesting want to take this path," said German Foreign Ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna announced on December 2 that Tallinn had jointly agreed with Latvia and Lithuania to introduce sanctions against "those who suppressed legitimate protests in Georgia."

"Opponents of democracy & violators of human rights are not welcome in our countries," Tsahkna said on social media.

The United States in July announced it would pause more than $95 million in assistance to the Georgian government, warning that it was backsliding on democracy.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and CNN