Georgia protests: Irakli Kobakhidze praises police for shooting protesters with water cannons as tensions rise

Georgian anti-government protesters have continued to escalate as tens of thousands object to the suspension of the country’s EU bid, with talks not set to resume until 2028.

The current ruling party, Georgia Dream, retook office after a controversial election that many claim was “illegitimate”.

Since the result, opposition politicians have refused to sit in parliament.

Protesters were seen firing fireworks at political buildings, with police responding by shooting at crowds with water cannons.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze praised police on Sunday for cracking down on protesters who he said were acting on foreign orders to undermine the state.

The European Union and the United States are alarmed by what they see as Georgia’s shift towards Russia’s orbit.

Big anti-government protests have taken place outside parliament in the capital Tbilisi for the past three nights, and police have fired water cannons and tear gas into the crowds.

Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that an attempted revolution was taking place in Georgia.

The former Russian president said on Telegram that Georgia was “moving rapidly along the Ukrainian path, into the dark abyss. Usually this sort of thing ends very badly”.

Mr Medvedev, once seen as a modernising reformer, has reinvented himself as an aggressive hawk since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Kremlin has yet to comment on the latest events in Georgia but it has long accused the US and its allies of fomenting revolutions in post-Soviet countries that Russia still regards as part of its sphere of influence.

Prime Minister Kobakhidze dismissed criticism by the US, which has condemned the use of “excessive force” against demonstrators.

“Despite the heaviest systematic violence applied yesterday by the violent groups and their foreign instructors, the police acted at a higher standard than the American and European ones and successfully protected the state from another attempt to violate the constitutional order,” he told a press conference.

Deepening the constitutional crisis in the country, outgoing President Salome Zourabichvili - a critic of the government and a strong advocate of Georgian membership of the EU - said on Saturday that she would refuse to step down when her term ends later this month.

Ms Zourabichvili said she would stay in office because the new parliament - chosen in October in elections that the opposition claims were rigged - was illegitimate and had no authority to name her successor.

Mr Kobakhidze said he understood Ms Zourabichvili’s “emotional state”.

“But of course on December 29 she will have to leave her residence and surrender this building to a legitimately elected president,” he said.

Georgian Dream has nominated Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former football star with a record of nationalist statements, as its candidate for president.

The head of state will be chosen on December 14 by an electoral college consisting of members of parliament and local government representatives.

- With Reuters