Il Messaggiere - Police fire rubber bullets, tear gas at Georgia protesters after PM delays EU bid

Thousands rallied in the capital Tbilisi and cities across Georgia after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced the decision amid a post-election crisis that saw the country's president challenge the legitimacy of the newly elected parliament and government.

Waving EU and Georgian flags, thousands rallied outside parliament, blocking traffic on the Georgian capital's main road in the latest of a series of protests in the country.

Shortly after midnight, riot police deployed tear gas and water cannon against the peaceful demonstrators.

The crackdown continued into the early hours, with masked police firing rubber bullets and brutally beating protesters and journalists.

Demonstrators erected barricades and set them on fire while local media reported several protesters and journalists were arrested.

"I stand with the Georgian media, who are disproportionately targeted and attacked while doing their job and reporting continuously," pro-Western President Salome Zurabishvili said on social media.

The prime minister's announcement came hours after the European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution rejecting the results of Georgia's October 26 parliamentary elections, alleging "significant irregularities".

The resolution called for new elections within a year under international supervision and for sanctions to be imposed on top Georgian officials, including Kobakhidze.

Accusing the European Parliament and "some European politicians" of "blackmail," Kobakhidze said: "We have decided not to bring up the issue of joining the European Union on the agenda until the end of 2028."

But he pledged to continue implementing reforms, asserting that "by 2028, Georgia will be more prepared than any other candidate country to open accession talks with Brussels and become a member state in 2030".

The former Soviet country officially gained EU candidate status in December 2023.

But Brussels has frozen Georgia's accession process until Tbilisi takes concrete steps to address what it calls democratic backsliding.

Opposition lawmakers are boycotting the new parliament, alleging fraud in the October elections, in which the ruling Georgian Dream party gained a new majority.

President Zurabishvili -- at loggerheads with Georgian Dream -- has declared the ballot "unconstitutional" and is seeking to annul the election results through the Constitutional Court.

- 'Coup' -

Following Kobakhidze's statement, street protests erupted in Tbilisi and several other cities.

"Georgian Dream didn't win the elections, it staged a coup. There is no legitimate parliament or government in Georgia," said 20-year-old demonstrator Shota Sabashvili.

"We will not let this self-proclaimed prime minister destroy our European future."

The Interior ministry said "protesters physically confronted police" in Tbilisi, "resulting in injuries to three officers, two of whom have been hospitalised."

"To de-escalate the situation, the police have employed measures permitted by law, including the use of special means," it said of the use of tear gas.

Zurabishvili held an "emergency meeting" with foreign diplomats, her office said.

"Today marks a significant point, or rather, the conclusion of the constitutional coup that has been unfolding for several weeks," she told a news conference alongside opposition leaders.

"Today, this non-existent and illegitimate government declared war on its own people," she added, calling herself the country's "sole legitimate representative."

- 'Existential crisis' -

About 90 Georgian diplomats issued a joint statement protesting Kobakhidze's announcement.

They said the decision "doesn't align with the country's strategic interests," contradicts Georgian constitution and "would lead Georgia into international isolation."

On Thursday, Georgian Dream MPs voted unanimously for Kobakhidze to continue as prime minister.

But constitutional law experts have said any decisions made by the new parliament are invalid, because it approved its own credentials in violation of a legal requirement to await a court ruling on Zurabishvili's bid to annul the election results.

One author of Georgia's constitution, Vakhtang Khmaladze, said: "From the legal point of view, a head of government approved by an illegitimate parliament is equally illegitimate."

"With democratic state institutions no more, Georgia's statehood faces an existential crisis," he told AFP.

Georgian Dream, which has been accused of moving Tbilisi away from Europe and closer to Moscow, denies allegations of electoral fraud.

The party's nomination of Kobakhidze for prime minister in February raised eyebrows in the West because of his claims European countries and the United States were trying to drag Georgia into the Russia-Ukraine war.

After the October vote, a group of Georgia's leading election monitors said they had evidence of a "complex scheme of large-scale electoral fraud" that swayed results in favour of Georgian Dream.

The goal of EU membership is enshrined in Georgia's constitution and supported by 80 percent of the country's population, according to opinion polls.

V.Barbieri--IM