Protesters gathered outside the Georgian parliament in Tbilisi after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on November 28 said his government was suspending EU accession talks until 2028 and would not accept budgetary grants from Brussels.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, a staunch critic of the ruling Georgian Dream party, joined the protest in Tbilisi to a rousing welcome from demonstrators, who shouted her name.
"I am with these people. The resistance has started and will not end until we have new elections," she told reporters.
She also confronted a row of riot police, telling them that it was their "duty to protect" Georgia's sovereignty and asking them whether they "serve Russia or Georgia."
Western governments have questioned the October parliamentary elections in Georgia -- in which Georgian Dream secured 54 percent of the vote -- arguing that the elections were marred by violations and Russian influence.
Smaller pro-EU protests were also being held in Batumi, Gori, Kutaisi, and Zugdidi. Photos and videos of the rallies in Tbilisi and elsewhere showed protesters carrying Georgian and EU flags.
Protesters rally outside the parliament building in Tbilisi on November 28.
Demonstrators in Zugdidi told RFE/RL's Georgian Service that the ruling Georgian Dream party was moving away from the EU and pushing the country toward Russia.
"Georgian authorities cut off all relations with the European Union and also refuse to receive funding. This will certainly lead to an economic collapse," Manana Mikawa, a teacher, told RFE/RL.
Earlier in the day, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for new legislative elections in Georgia and sanctions on senior members of the Georgian Dream party.
SEE ALSO: Georgian Dream To Open Parliament Despite Protests, Without Foreign DiplomatsIn its resolution, the European Parliament said the result of the election did "not serve as a reliable representation of the will of the Georgian people."
It also called on the European Union, which froze Georgia's EU membership application last month, to place sanctions on key officials within the ruling party, including Kobakhidze, Georgian Dream Chairman Irakli Gharibashvili, billionaire power broker and party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, and Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze.
Speaking at the Georgian Dream headquarters, Kobakhidze said Tbilisi was suspending accession talks while also rejecting all budgetary grants from the EU until 2028.
"We are not going to join the European Union by begging and standing on one leg, but in a dignified manner with a sound democratic system and a strong economy," the prime minister told reporters without taking any questions.
Earlier, during a parliamentary session to approve his government, Kobakhidze said his government's goal was for Georgia to join the EU by 2030.
"We are ready to observe and take into account all conditions [set by the EU] that do not go against our national interests," he said to applause from Georgian Dream lawmakers.
Georgia received EU candidate status in December 2023 but relations with Brussels have soured in recent months, beginning with the adoption of the controversial "foreign agent" law that critics say threatens to publicly discredit thousands of media outlets and civil society groups as "serving" outside powers.
The United States in July announced it would pause more than $95 million in assistance to the Georgian government, warning that it was backsliding on democracy.