Georgian security forces used tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters outside parliament in Tbilisi early on November 29, detaining dozens and assaulting several people including journalists from RFE/RL and other media.
Parliament raised its security level to the highest threat level -- code red -- as thousands gathered to vent their anger over Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's announcement a day earlier that his government was suspending EU accession talks until 2028 and would not accept budgetary grants from Brussels.
The Interior Ministry said 43 people were arrested "as a result of the illegal and violent actions."
Georgia has been thrown into turmoil since October parliamentary elections -- in which Georgian Dream secured 54 percent of the vote -- with the opposition and Western governments arguing the vote was marred by violations and Russian influence.
Smaller pro-EU protests also broke out in cities such as Batumi, Gori, Kutaisi, and Zugdidi.
Early on November 29, riot police deployed tear gas and water cannon against the peaceful demonstrators, with the crackdown continuing through the morning, with masked police firing rubber bullets and brutally beating protesters and journalists.
RFE/RL Georgian Service journalist Davit Tsagareli was punched and thrown to the ground by a riot police officer as he reported live from the scene, while earlier RFE/RL captured footage of a police officer repeatedly hitting TV Formula journalist Guram Rogava on the head.
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RFE/RL Journalist Attacked As Protests Erupt After Government Spurns EU
After Rogava fell to the ground, the officer fled the scene. The journalist was hospitalized with injuries to the face and head.
"His condition is satisfactory. He has facial bone fractures, as well as a fracture in his neck. At this stage, it does not require surgical intervention," the doctor who treated Rogava at the hospital told journalists.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, a staunch critic of the ruling Georgian Dream party, joined the protest in Tbilisi on November 28 in a show of solidarity with the demonstrators.
"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."
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.
In 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.