🔗 Share this article The Georgian Prime Minister Announces Suppression on Dissent Following Tbilisi Demonstrations Georgia's prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, has unveiled a broad crackdown on political opposition, alleging protesters who attempted to storm the official residence of seeking to topple his administration and pointing the finger at the European Union for meddling in Georgia's affairs. Kobakhidze leveled these accusations just a day following protesters attempted to breach the presidential building during local elections. Riot police halted their advance by using irritant spray and water jets. "No one will avoid accountability. This encompasses political accountability," the prime minister was reported to state. Law enforcement detained at least five demonstrators, among them representatives of the United National Movement and the vocal artist turned campaigner Paata Burchuladze. Local media cited the ministry of health as saying that twenty-one members of the security forces and 6 protesters had been injured in clashes in the heart of the capital. Background of the Political Unrest The South Caucasus country has been in turmoil since Kobakhidze's ruling Georgian Dream party declared win in last year's parliamentary election, which the pro-EU opposition asserts was rigged. Since then, Georgia's negotiations on joining the bloc have been frozen. Kobakhidze said that up to seven thousand people attended the weekend's protest gathering but their "effort to overthrow the constitutional order" had been thwarted despite what he called EU backing. "A number of people have already been arrested – primarily the leaders of the attempted coup," he informed the press, stating that the country's main opposition force "will be barred from operating in Georgian politics." Protest Movement Calls and Government Reaction Opposition figures had called for a "peaceful revolution" against Georgian Dream, which they allege of being pro-Russian and authoritarian. The party has been in control since 2012. Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the center of the capital, displaying national and European flags, after an extended period of targeted operations on free press, restrictions on non-governmental groups and the detention of many of critics and activists. The prime minister blamed the EU's ambassador to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, of interference. "You know that certain individuals from abroad have even expressed explicit backing for all this, for the declared effort to overthrow the legal government," he remarked, noting that the ambassador "holds particular accountability in this situation." "[Herczyński] should come out, distance himself and strictly condemn everything that is happening on the city's avenues," stated Kobakhidze. European Union Response and Ongoing Geopolitical Tensions In July, the European External Action Service dismissed what it called "disinformation and unfounded claims" about the EU's alleged role in the nation. The pro-European factions have been organizing demonstrations since last October, when GD secured victory in a national vote that its opponents claim was marred by fraud. The ruling group has rejected allegations of vote-rigging. Georgia has the goal of joining the European Union written into its constitution and has long been one of the most Europe-oriented of the former Soviet republics. Its relations with the west have been under pressure since Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022. GD is directed by its founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country's richest man and a ex-leader, and denies it is pro-Moscow. It states it aims to enter the European Union while preserving peace with Moscow.