Showdown Looms In Georgia As President Calls Supporters To Tbilisi Streets

Georgian anti-government protesters form a "chain of unity" in Tbilisi on December 28.

TBILISI -- On the eve of a potentially explosion day, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili called for supporters to gather at the presidential palace on December 29 as she joined a mass rally against the Georgian Dream-led government’s moves to delay closer European Union integration.

"Greetings from the Orbeliani Palace,” she said in a video released to social media. "I am here, I will be here, I will spend the night here as well."

"Tomorrow, I will be waiting for you…at 10 a.m. -- and from here, I will tell you what tomorrow will be like. I will tell you what the following days will be like, and what the days of victory will be like."

A potential showdown looms on the streets of Tbilisi on December 29 as Zurabishvili has vowed not to step down at the end of her term on that day, claiming her successor -- chosen by an electoral college dominated by Georgian Dream -- was "illegitimate."

She joined protesters in the capital on December 28 as rally participants waved Georgian and EU flags, played music, and marched along the Saarbruecken Bridge in the capital to form a "chain of unity."

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Georgian Anti-Government Protesters Form Human Chain

The rally marked one month since the start of the recent wave of anti-government protests, which have been met with violent police action, injuries, and mass arrests by Georgian authorities.

Protesters accuse the government of the Georgian Dream party of moving the country away from the EU and tilting closer to Moscow.

The political crisis erupted after Georgian Dream claimed victory in October parliamentary elections that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said was marred by instances of vote-buying, double-voting, physical violence, and intimidation.

The rallies intensified after a government decision last month to delay negotiations on Georgia joining the EU.

On December 24, Human Rights Watch called for Georgian security forces to be investigated for the "brutal police violence" against largely peaceful protesters who have taken to the streets for the demonstrations.

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Anti-Government Protesters Dance Through Tbilisi

On December 27, the United States said it had slapped fresh sanctions on Russia-friendly billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former prime minister and the founder of the Georgian Dream party, for undermining Georgia's democracy for the "benefit of the Russian Federation."

"Under Ivanishvili's leadership, Georgian Dream has advanced the interests of the Kremlin by derailing Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic trajectory -- in direct contradiction to what was envisioned by the Georgian people and the Georgian Constitution," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

SEE ALSO: U.S., Britain Impose Sanctions On Georgian Interior Ministry Officials

The action prompted anger from the Georgian Dream party, while the Georgian opposition hailed the action and called on the EU to also move against Ivanishvili and other Georgian leaders.

Zurabishvili -- who has spilt with the government and backed the protesters early in the wave of rallies -- on December 22 called on Georgian Dream to set a date for new parliamentary elections by December 29.

In a show of Western support, U.S. Republican House member Joe Wilson on December 27 wrote on X that he welcomed the new sanctions and added that he had invited Zurabishvili -- "as the only legitimate leader in Georgia" -- to Donald Trump's presidential inauguration on January 20.

"I am in awe of her courage in the face of the assault by Ivanishvili and his friends" in China and Iran, Wilson added, without mentioning Russia.

Earlier this month, an electoral college dominated by Georgian Dream chose Mikheil Kavelashvili, a 53-year-old former soccer player and right-wing populist, as Georgia's next president.

His inauguration is supposed to take place on December 29, though the 72-year-old Zurabishvili, whose term ends this year, has said she will not step down, setting up the potentially tense showdown.

"Next week at this time, I will be president," Zurabishvili restated on December 27.

Georgia received EU candidate status in December 2023, but ties with Brussels have been tense in recent months following the adoption in May of a controversial "foreign agent" law pushed through parliament by Georgian Dream, which has been in power since 2012.