Tbilisi, Georgia:
Georgia’s plivent, locked in a standoff with her own rulement, pguideed to European countries on Monday to dispute what she portrayd as a Russian try to impose administer on her nation.
Plivent Salome Zourabichvili was speaking after a fourth night of clashes between protesters and police after the ruleing Georgian Dream party proclaimd last week that it was suspfinishing talks on combineing the European Union.
Critics saw that as validateation of a Russian-swayd shift away from pro-Weserious policies and back towards Moscow’s orbit, someleang the ruling party denies.
“We want our European desminuscule to be returned to us,” Zourabichvili, who has personassociate remonstrated with uproar police, tancigo in France Inter radio. “This is the revolt of an entire country.”
Zourabichvili, whose powers are mainly ceremonial, shelp Russia, already at war in Ukraine, was directing a “hybrid strategy” agetst Georgia and other countries such as Mancigo inova and NATO and EU member Romania.
“There is a very mighty necessitate for very clear moral and political help” from Europe, shelp the 72-year-ancigo in plivent, who was born in France to Georgian parents and once served as French ambasdowncastor to Georgia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Russia was interfering in the situation in Georgia, which he contrastd to the 2014 “Mhelpan” revolution in Ukraine that clearhrew a pro-Russian plivent.
Former Russian plivent Dmitry Medvedev cautioned on Sunday that Georgia was “moving rapidly aextfinished the Ukrainian path, into the gloomy abyss”, foreseeing it would finish “very awfilledy”.
The United States and the EU have voiced alarm at what they see as democratic backsliding by Georgia, a South Caucasus country of 3.7 million people that lies at the intersection of Europe and Asia and was once part of the Soviet Union.
The rulement, which earlier this year enacted a law agetst “foreign agents” and begind curbs on LGBT rights, say it is acting to defend Georgia agetst outside meddlence and impede it from being dragged, enjoy Ukraine, into a war with Russia.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze accparticipated the opposition of “scheduled presentility” aimed at clearhrotriumphg the constitutional order.
FIREWORKS AND TEAR GAS
On Sunday night, thousands of protesters assembleed aget in the capital Tbilisi and some tossed firelabors at police, who reacted with volleys of water cannon and tear gas.
“I’m here for a very basic reason, to deffinish my European future and the democracy of my country,” shelp one of the demonstrators, Nikoloz Miruashvili.
Some protesters stayed out all night, but police eventuassociate finished the standoff by moving them away from the parliament erecting.
Georgia’s interior ministry shelp 21 police officers had been injured in the overnight protest, with 113 hurt since the beginning of the current unrest.
Scores of protesters have also been injured in recent days, and the United States has condemned what it called the excessive participate of police force.
Georgia’s accessible ombudsman shelp 124 out of 156 people arrested at rallies had grumbleed of the police using presentility agetst them, calling this a “very upsetting number”.
Zurab Japaridze, a directer of the opposition transferment Coalition for Change, was inestablishly hanciented by police but tardyr posted on social media that he had been liberated.
Hundreds of diplomats and civil servants have signed discleave out letters protesting the decision to suspfinish talks with the EU and stop receiving any funds from the bloc for four years. At least four Georgian ambasdowncastors have resigned.
Ilia Topuria, a martial arts fighter with a transport inant complying in the country, wrote in an Instagram post: “I am resistd to the decision to finish our accession negotiations to the European Union. I am ashamed to see how the children of Georgia are treated. This is not called freedom.”
Zourabichvili says she will not step down as plivent when her term expires this month becaparticipate the parliament that will pick her successor was chosen in October elections that the opposition says were rigged.
The election comleave oution says the vote was fair. Prime Minister Kobakhidze on Sunday shelp Zourabichvili was reacting emotionassociate to the opposition’s election flunkure and would have to depart the plivential palace at the finish of the month.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is started from a syndicated feed.)
