(4 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tbilisi – 5 December 2024
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Various of people protesting outside Georgian parliament
2. Protesters holding banners and Georgian flag
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Geiorgi Tomaradze, protester:
"Today, it’s a dictatorship in Georgia. And me and my friends and my nation gathered here in order to protest this violence and corruption in government, and this is violence which is brutal. And we defend our rights and we can fight against the regime."
4. Fireworks outside parliament
5. Various of protesters standing near fire
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Nino Evgenidze, protester:
"We fight for our freedom and this is the main fight for us. If we are not going to be part of the European Union, and if we’re not going to be free from the Russian oppression, then I don’t (know) who we’re going to be in this world."
7. Police standing near parliament
8. Police blocking street leading to parliament’s entrance
9. Protester with EU flag walking in front of police officers
10. Various of police blocking street leading to parliament’s entrance
11. Protesters whistling
12. Protesters wrapped with EU and Georgian flags
STORYLINE:
Thousands of Georgians gathered outside the parliament in Tbilisi on Wednesday night in protest against the governing party’s decision to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union.
Protesters wrapped with Georgian and European flags whistled at riot police guarding the entrance to the parliament.
The police did not disperse the crowds.
During the past six nights, riot police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, who threw fireworks at police officers and built barricades on the Georgian capital’s central boulevard.
More than 300 protesters have been detained since Thursday and over 100 people have been treated for injuries.
On Wednesday, the Coalition for Change opposition party said that police raided its offices and detained its leader, Nika Gvaramia. It shared a video showing several officers dragging Gvaramia into a car.
Georgian media reported that police also raided the offices of several other opposition groups and non-government organizations.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze of the Georgian Dream party said the raids targeted those who encouraged violence during protests in an attempt to topple his government.
The ruling Georgian Dream retained control of parliament in the disputed Oct. 26 election, which was widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s EU aspirations.
The opposition and the pro-Western president have accused the governing party of rigging the vote with neighboring Russia’s help and boycotted parliament sessions.
Mass opposition protests sparked by the vote gained new momentum after the governing party’s decision on Thursday to put the EU accession talks on hold.
AP Video shot by Kostya Manenkov
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