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TBILISI — Riot police used water cannons and tear gas against demonstrators participating in the sixth consecutive night of demonstrations in Tbilisi after Georgia's Interior Ministry warned demonstrators against carrying out acts of violence.

The ministry said on December 3 that “aggressive members” of the protest launched illegal and violent actions shortly after their rally in central Tbilisi.

Special forces began dispersing protesters gathered in front of the Parliament building after the ministry said some of them insulted law enforcement and threw various blunt objects, pyrotechnics and flammable objects at their direction.

Around 11:30 p.m. local time, police used water cannons to force protesters away from the Parliament building, pushing them in the direction of the Marriott Hotel as they had done in previous nights. Special forces also periodically fired tear gas canisters.

Police responded by aiming water cannons at protesters, some of whom danced in the flowing water while others sheltered under umbrellas.

The Caucasus country has been rocked by protests since the ruling Georgian Dream party announced last week that it would end accession negotiations over Georgia's bid to join the European Union. .

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze refused to back down and threatened to punish political opponents, whom he accused of being behind the violence during the protests.

On December 3, the US embassy in Tbilisi castigated the Georgian Dream party for making decisions that cost the country Western support and sparked protests.

Georgia has been in turmoil since October's parliamentary elections, in which Georgian Dream received 54 percent of the vote. The opposition and Western governments have argued the vote was marred by violations and Russian influence.

Kobakhidze blamed the unrest on foreign “instructors” and tried to explain the decision to suspend EU accession negotiations until 2028 by saying that Georgia was ready to participate in the negotiations, “but only in the dignity, justice and without blackmail.

The US Embassy responded by saying: “Don't blame others” in a Facebook post, emphasizing that it was the Georgian Dream that had stopped the EU accession process and that the party was responsible for the Washington's decision to end a strategic partnership between the United States. two countries.

The embassy statement came hours after security forces dispersed protesters during the fifth night of demonstrations in Tbilisi using tear gas and water cannons.

In a change of tactics, several hundred demonstrators left Chavchavadze Avenue in Tbilisi, near the state university, on December 3, while police in balaclavas massed in the neighborhood following nighttime clashes with Protesters outside the Parliament building, where they have been gathering every night since November 28, when the ruling Georgian Dream party announced its decision regarding negotiations with the EU.

The excessive use of violence by Georgian security forces against protesters has sparked a wave of outrage at home and abroad, with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte calling it “deeply concerning”.

At a news conference in Brussels ahead of a meeting of alliance foreign ministers, Rutte said NATO members “urge the Georgian government to stay on the path” toward “a more greater integration of the EU and NATO.

“Reports of violence are deeply concerning and I unequivocally condemn them,” he said.

Twenty-six people, including 23 demonstrators and three members of the security forces, had to be hospitalized after the clashes on the night of December 1, the Georgian Ministry of Health announced on December 3.

“None of the injuries are life-threatening,” the ministry added in a statement.

The Interior Ministry said 224 protesters were arrested on administrative grounds and three on criminal grounds. In addition, three police officers were hospitalized and 113 others required medical treatment, the ministry said on December 2.

Pro-European Georgian President Salomé Zurabishvili, who sided with the protesters, told X that many arrested demonstrators had head and facial injuries. Some people were subjected to systematic beatings between their arrest and their transport to detention centers, she added.

Writing on X on December 3, she said force had been used “disproportionately” against demonstrators, while the Georgian ombudsman accused the police of torturing pro-European demonstrators.

Levan Ioseliani, whose role is to defend citizens' rights, said he and his officials had encountered people subjected to the harshest treatment by police.

In most cases, they were seriously injured in the face, eyes and head, which virtually excludes even the possibility that the police used necessary and proportional force against them each time, he said. in a press release. statement.

The location, nature and severity of the injuries give the credible impression that the police are using violent methods against citizens in order to punish them. Intentional and severe violence for the purpose of punishment constitutes torture.

Kobakhidze claimed the protests were “financed from abroad” and promised “there will be no revolution in Georgia.”

Western governments have questioned Georgia's October parliamentary elections, in which Georgian Dream won 54 percent of the vote, arguing that the elections were marred by violations and Russian influence.

Zurabishvili says people wanted free elections, not revolutions.

Kobakhidze earlier said Zurabishvili was expected to leave office at the end of his term later this month. This announcement comes despite his promise to remain in office “until a president is legitimately elected.”

Zurabishvili and the opposition have alleged fraud and other irregularities and refuse to recognize the new parliament, which last week scheduled an indirect election for a new president on Dec. 14 despite ongoing legal challenges.

One of these challenges suffered a setback on December 3 when the Georgian Constitutional Court refused to hear a lawsuit seeking to overturn the election results.

The case was brought by the pro-European Zurabishvili party, whose powers are largely ceremonial. His term ends next month.

A majority of Georgians support EU membership, and efforts to join the bloc are mandated by the Georgian Constitution.

But the ruling Georgian Dream party's enactment this year of what Zurabishvili and his critics call a “Russian law” cracking down on foreign-funded NGOs and media, as well as a controversial rights bill LGBT and public attacks on the West by Kobakhidze and other officials, have raised fears that the current government will bring the country back into Russia's orbit.

Georgia was granted EU candidate status in December 2023, but relations with Brussels have deteriorated in recent months, starting with the adoption of the controversial “foreign agents” law, which critics say , threatens to publicly discredit thousands of media outlets and civil society groups as “serving” the EU. external powers.

With reporting from AFP, AP and Reuters