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Thousands in Georgia took part in a fourth straight day of protests on Sunday against a government decision to shelve EU membership talks, as the prime minister rebuffed calls for new elections.
The Black Sea nation has been rocked by turmoil since the governing Georgian Dream party claimed victory in Oct. 26 parliamentary polls that the pro-European opposition said were fraudulent.
The opposition is boycotting the new parliament, while pro-EU President Salome Zurabishvili has asked the constitutional court to annul the election result and declared the new legislature and government “illegitimate.”
Critics accuse Georgian Dream, in power for more than a decade, of having steered the country away from the EU in recent years and of moving closer to Russia, an accusation it denies.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced Georgia would not seek accession talks with the European Union until 2028, sparking a wave of protests in the capital Tbilisi and other cities.
About 150 demonstrators have been arrested in this latest wave.
Police in some instances have chased protesters through the streets, beating them and firing rubber bullets and tear gas.
Thousands waving European and Georgian flags gathered outside parliament on Sunday evening, with some banging on the metal door blocking its entrance.
‘Not my government’
Despite cold weather, young protesters, some of them teenagers, stood their ground for an hour under streams of water from fire hoses sprayed by police from the parliament courtyard on Sunday.
Police later deployed water cannons, but were unable to disperse the crowds.
“Georgian Dream is not my government. This is not Georgia’s government. This is a [pro] Russian government, and they must go,” said one of the demonstrators, 32-year-old bartender Alexandre Diasamidze.
Another protest took place outside the offices of Georgia’s Public Broadcaster (GPB), widely accused of acting as a propaganda tool for the ruling party.
The broadcaster conceded to the protesters’ demand to grant President Zurabishvili airtime, which it had previously denied her.
Simultaneous protests took place in cities across Georgia.
Fueling popular anger, Kobakhidze ruled out new parliamentary elections, saying that “the formation of the new government based on the Oct. 26 parliamentary elections has been completed.”
Earlier this week, the party nominated far-right former football international Mikheil Kavelashvili for the largely ceremonial post of president.
But Zurabishvili told AFP in an exclusive interview on Saturday that she would not step down until last month’s contested parliamentary elections are re-run.
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