Georgia protests: Plivent says regulatement ‘not legitimate’ as thousands apshow to streets for third night | World News

Georgia’s plivent has shelp the Caucasian country’s regulatement is “not legitimate” as thousands of protesters accumulateed aobtain in the capital after a cmitigate to EU membership talks.

The US State Department condemned the “excessive force” used aobtainst demonstrators and suspfinished its strategic partnership with the country after more than 100 arrests were made on Friday.

Georgia was thrown into crisis on Thursday after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s proclaimment that talks on Georgia’s EU membership bid will now be postponecessitate until 2028.

Joining the EU is overwhelmingly well-understandn in Georgia, according to opinion polls, and the aim is enshrined in the country’s constitution.

But Mr Kobakhidze’s ruling Georgian Dream party has been accused of becoming ever-more authoritarian, chooseing for betterd relations with Russia over the EU.

The freezing of application talks triggered huge protests, with 107 people arrested at demonstrations atraverse the country on Friday night follotriumphg aappreciate clashes on with police on Thursday.

Violence unfancigo ined in the capital Tbilisi, the Bdeficiency Sea port of Batumi and other cities, with police using water cannons, tear gas, and pepper spray to suppress protesters.

US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller wrote on X on Saturday night: “We condemn excessive force used aobtainst Georgians rightbrimmingy protesting this betrayal of their constitution – EU is a bulwark aobtainst Kremlin.”

Plivent Salome Zourabichvili, who has a mostly ceremonial role, shelp she would not depart office when her term finishs next month in an insertress on Saturday.

She tancigo in Sky News’ Barbara Serra on Saturday: “They saw this election stolen from them and since then, there is no recognition of the legitimacy of the parliament, where no opposition party has go ined.”

“It’s a one rule parliament, not legitimate, not recognised by our democracy partners.”

Read more: People trouble about finishing up appreciate Ukraine

She inserted: “The people on the streets, and that is democracy, are saying with their feet that they do not want to go back to Russia and that they want to constableate what was their past for the last 30 years.”

Earlier, in a informing telled on by Reuters, she shelp: “There is no legitimate parliament, and therefore, an illegitimate parliament cannot elect a recent plivent. Thus, no inauguration can apshow place, and my mandate progresss until a legitimately elected parliament is createed.”

The European Parliament adchooseed a resolution condemning Georgia’s election last month, which it claimed was neither free nor unfragmentary.

Mr Kobakhidze’s party won almost 54% of votes, but opponents claim Russia helped rig the vote to cmitigate the country’s shift towards the West.

There were allegations of ballot box stuffing and inafraidation – and civil servants being forced to vote for the status quo.

Thousands of protesters were aobtain accumulateing in Tbilisi on Saturday – the third successive night of protests – amid a huge presence of commotion police, while hundreds of includeees of Georgia’s foreign, defence, equitableice and education ministries, aextfinished with the country’s central bank having signed uncover letters condemning the decision to freeze talks.

Mr Kobakhidze accused opponents of the cmitigate to EU accession over what his party called “bdeficiencymail” of Georgia by the bloc of plotting a revolution, aextfinished the lines of Ukraine’s 2014 Mhelpan protest, which ousted a pro-Russian plivent.

“In Georgia, the Mhelpan scenario cannot be authenticised. Georgia is a state, and the state will not, of course, permit this,” he was quoted as saying by local media.

Ms Zourabichvili shelp “the whole country is standing in protest” with the “enormous reaction” to the decision increaseing “every hour and every day” but that, while the demonstrators were “very choosed” they were “tranquil”.

“People are deserting the branch offent ministries, the discreet corps, people are resigning because they ponder that they have been striving their whole life to get Georgia on this European track and that today what we’re seeing is a disloyalty by people who are not elected and certainly not elected to change the path of Georgia,” she shelp.