Protesters gathered en masse in Tbilisi and other cities across Georgia for the fourth night in a row after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s surprise announcement on Thursday that the government was postponing its EU accession bid until 2028. 

As with previous nights demonstrators started gathering in the evening in front of the parliaments. Within one hour, police had already detained two people.

Vazha Siradze, Head of the Patrol Police Department told media that ‘certain individuals began engaging in various illegal activities, including throwing various objects at the entrance to the parliament, breaking an iron fence, and breaking windows, from which they set fires in rooms’.

There were numerous tense moments during Sunday's protest as riot police used water cannons and other crowd control methods against demonstrators, who in turn shot fireworks and threw objects back at the police. 

At around 2:00, riot police cleared the territory in front of the parliament and pushed demonstrators down the street, where the protest continued.

While protests have remained largest in Tbilisi, demonstrations against the U-turn on EU accession have also broken out in Batumi, Kutaisi, Ozurgeti, Rustavi, Zugdidi, and elsewhere across the country. 

The Interior Ministry has not published information about how many demonstrators they arrested during the last two overnight protests. But the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) stated that from 28 November to 1 December, ‘the Legal Aid Network hotline received information about more than 200 arrests’ including minors, women, journalists, representatives of the cultural sphere and employees of non-governmental organisations.

Georgian Dream officials and its affiliates in parliament, as well as pro-government media, have continued to insist the protests are not peaceful, while simultaneously obfuscating the violent police response. 

Parliamentary Speaker Shalva Papuashvili claimed that 48 rooms inside the parliament building were damaged by protesters.

The Interior Ministry stated that one person was arrested on criminal charges for ‘setting fire to the electrical wires and block of video surveillance cameras installed on a pole in the Parliament building during a protest’.

According to the investigation, the suspect, who is ‘a member of one of the political parties’, set fire to the wires on Friday. If found guilty, the accused might face up to six years in prison.

Kobakhidze claims foreign organisation of protests

Several hours before the fourth night of demonstrations started, Kobakhidze floated conspiracy theories about foreign organisation of protests and hinted that demonstrations near the parliament ‘might be organised by foreign’ individuals.

Kobakhidze said law enforcement officers had detained Russian citizens, as well as a British citizen, ‘who illegally entered the parliament building’.

‘We may be dealing with foreign [individuals]  who are organising violent groups’, he said.

‘This issue needs to be investigated with particular attention, what did such a group of Russian violent [people] want in Georgia, at whose behest they arrived and what instructions they were given [...], what did the British instructor want, why did [they] break into the parliament building, on whose orders were these people acting, all this is subject to investigation’, he said.

At the same briefing he claimed it was ‘worrying that the EU has not condemned the gross systemic violence perpetrated by violent groups in this case either’. 

‘I would like to remind you that such facts seriously damage the trust of Georgian society in European institutions’, he said.

Kobakhidze reiterated that the government has not stopped the European integration process and that they ‘are further intensifying our efforts to ensure Georgia’s membership in the European Union in 2030’.

During the briefing, he also commented on the US decision to suspend its strategic partnership with Georgia, saying the administration of President Joe Biden is ‘trying to leave the most difficult legacy possible to the new administration, the Trump administration’.

‘This will have no principled significance, we will wait for the new administration and discuss everything with the new administration’, said Kobakhidze, adding that the suspension was ‘temporary’, as is President Salome Zourabichvili’s term.

The Baltics announce joint sanctions

International condemnation of both the initial decision to make a U-turn on EU accession and the subsequent police crackdown continue to mount. On Sunday evening, the foreign ministers of the Baltic states made a joint statement saying they had agreed to enact sanctions ‘against those who suppressed legitimate protests in Georgia’. 

‘Opponents of democracy and violators of human rights are not welcome in our countries’, the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian foreign ministers said in identical posts on X. 

Shortly after, European Council President António Costa and Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, said they had spoken with Zourabichvili about the ongoing crisis, adding that they ‘condemn the violence against peaceful protestors’. 

‘Actions of [the Georgian] government run counter to the will of the people. The EU stands with the people of Georgia’. 

A similar sentiment was echoed by the Danish Foreign Ministry, which said ‘violence against peaceful protesters’ is ‘completely unacceptable’. 

‘Actions by [the] Georgian government will have direct consequences for the relationship between EU and Georgia’. 

Zourabichvili: ‘Civil protest must remain as it is’

After meeting opposition members, Zourabichvili said at a briefing on Sunday night that civil protest must remain as it is [currently], with, according to her, its spontaneity, freedom, and self-organisation.

Zourabichvili said ‘we all agreed that there is no need for any political parties or my intervention [in the demonstrations], but there is a need for support and protection’.

She also clarified that ‘support and protection’ means legal protection for people arrested at protests and also, in the future, the creation of a public fund that will help cover the fines of demonstrators.

Zourabichvili urged protesters to be careful and said that there may be State Security Service officers mingling among the crowd.

Rumors that Georgians fighting in Ukraine are preparing to join the protests are false, she added.

No end in sight

As of around 2:40 a.m., the situation remained fluid, with rain beginning to fall and protesters setting up barricades and bonfires on Rustaveli Avenue. 

Earlier in the day, the four main opposition parties,  the For Georgia party, Coalition for Change, Unity – National Movement, and Strong Georgia, released a statement urging citizens to ‘demand paid leave as provided for by the Labor Code and [...] use [their] free time in a common, national resistance movement'.

‘Georgian companies that value Georgia’s freedom, independence, and democracy: Please grant such leave without hindrance during these crucial days and thereby support your fellow citizens’ fight for Georgia’s European future’, the statement read.

With both the government and protesters having  made no indication yet of backing down, it is likely that the demonstrations will continue into next week.