(2 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tbilisi – 2 December 2024
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Fire lit by protesters burning in street
2. Tracking shot of protesters, some in gas masks, with lasers in background seen through smoky air
3. Fireworks exploding
4. Various of protesters running as tear gas cannisters land on street
5. Protesters standing in tear gas
6. Wide of scene
7. Wide of fire
STORYLINE:
Police in Georgia’s capital again moved to disperse thousands of demonstrators on Monday after over 200 people were detained during four previous nights of protests against the government’s decision to suspend negotiations to join the European Union.
Police used water cannons and tear gas to drive protesters away from the parliament building where they have gathered each night since Thursday when the ruling Georgian Dream party declared its decision to put EU accession talks on hold.
Georgian Dream’s disputed victory in the country’s October 26 parliamentary election, widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s aspirations to join the EU, has sparked mass demonstrations and the opposition boycott of the parliament.
The opposition and the country’s pro-Western president have accused the governing party of rigging the vote with Moscow’s help, something both the government and the Kremlin deny.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry said Monday that 224 protesters were detained on administrative charges and three arrested on criminal charges.
So far, 113 police officers needed medical treatment while three others were hospitalized after clashes with protesters, who hurled fireworks at police.
Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili said many of the arrested protesters had injuries to their heads and faces, including broken bones and eye sockets.
Zourabichvili, who plays a largely ceremonial role, has rejected official election results and refused to recognize the parliament’s legitimacy.
The government’s announcement of the EU accession talks’ suspension came hours after the European Parliament adopted a resolution criticizing October’s election in Georgia as neither free nor fair.
The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on condition that it meet the bloc’s recommendations but put its accession on hold and cut financial support earlier this year after the passage of a “foreign influence” law widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.
Georgian Dream has increasingly adopted repressive laws mirroring those in Russia which crack down on freedom of speech and curtail LGBTQ+ rights. A law banning same-sex marriages, adoptions by same-sex couples and public endorsement and depictions of LGBTQ+ relations and people in the media came into force Monday.
AP video shot by: Zura Muradov
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