Thousands demonstrate in Georgia against the government – international – world

Demonstrators take part in a rally organized by Georgian opposition parties to support the country’s membership of the European Union and the release of former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili from detention and transfer abroad for treatment in Tbilisi, Georgia, Sunday, May 9. April 2023. (AP)

Protesters gathered outside Georgia’s parliament for a rally organized by the country’s main opposition force, the United National Movement, which was founded by imprisoned ex-president Mikhail Saakashvili.

The protesters waved Georgian, Ukrainian and EU flags and held a huge banner reading “For the future of Europe”.

The government of the ruling Georgian Dream party has been accused of jailing opponents, silencing independent media, colluding with the Kremlin and stalling the country on its path to EU membership.

“(The) Georgian government is controlled from Moscow and our duty is to save our homeland from Russian henchmen,” former Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili told the crowd.

“We are freedom-loving people, part of the European family, we reject Russian slavery.”

One of the protesters, 27-year-old painter Luka Kavsadze, said: “Our struggle will be peaceful but uncompromising and will take us to where we belong – to the European Union.”

Last month, tens of thousands took to the streets in Tbilisi after parliament initially backed a bill “on foreign agents,” similar to the law used in Russia to suppress dissent.

The draft law, which was heavily criticized by the European Union and the United States, was dropped amid pressure from street protests, during which police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse crowds.

Saakashvili, President of Georgia from 2004 to 2013, is serving a six-year sentence for abuse of power, a conviction international human rights groups have condemned as politically motivated.

Doctors have said the pro-Western reformer is at risk of death due to a litany of serious conditions he developed in prison.

The ruling party has insisted it remains committed to Georgia’s EU and NATO membership bids, which are enshrined in the constitution and backed by 80 percent of the population, according to opinion polls.

But party leaders have stepped up anti-Western rhetoric after Washington last week banned visas for four powerful Georgia judges over alleged corruption.

The move marked the latest tightening of Washington’s approach to an ally following concerns about a shift from Tbilisi toward Russia.

Georgia, along with Ukraine and Moldova, applied for EU membership days after Russia invaded its pro-Western neighbor in February 2022.

Last June, EU leaders granted Kiev and Chisinau formal candidate status but said Tbilisi must implement reforms first.

Short link: