Thousands form Georgia human chain, as pro-EU protests enter 2nd month
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Thousands of protesters formed a human chain in Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, on Dec 28, to campaign for a future in Europe.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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TBILISI - Thousands of Georgians formed human chains across the country on Dec 28, in support of the country’s European Union membership, marking two months of daily pro-Europe rallies.
Mass street protests have gripped Georgia since Nov 28, when the ruling Georgian Dream party’s increasingly authoritarian government said it will not seek the opening of EU accession talks
The protest came a day before a controversial inauguration
On the afternoon of Dec 28, thousands of demonstrators, waving Georgian and EU flags, lined the Mtkvari River embankment and several bridges in the capital, Tbilisi, forming a kilometres-long human chain, an AFP reporter saw.
I Want To Hold Your Hand, a hit song by the English rock band the Beatles, echoed from speakers mounted on a car as it drove along the human chain.
Ms Zurabishvili - at loggerheads with the ruling party - joined the demonstrators at Tbilisi’s Dry Bridge.
Similar rallies were held across Georgia, including in the cities of Batumi, Kutaisi, Zugdidi, Poti, Samtredia, Rustavi, Gori, Khashuri, Telavi and Gurjaani, local media reported.
On the Metekhi Bridge in Tbilisi’s historic district, protesters displayed a banner reading “Freedom for political prisoners.”
“We demand fresh elections,” read another banner at Tbilisi’s modernist Peace Bridge.
“Everyone must understand that the protests will not stop until all the demands are met,” one demonstrator, a 23-year-old international relations student Teimuraz Tsiklauri, told AFP.
Protesters then marched to their usual gathering spot outside parliament.
‘Torture’
In the first 10 days of protests, riot police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators - some of whom threw fireworks and stones.
The interior ministry reported more than 400 arrests, while the country’s top human rights official, ombudsman Levan Ioseliani and Amnesty International have accused security forces of “torturing” those detained.
The reported police brutality has drawn growing international condemnation, with Washington and several European countries imposing visa bans on Georgian Dream officials.
On Dec 27, the United States imposed sanctions
Oligarch Mr Ivanishvili, Georgia’s richest man, is widely regarded as the de facto leader of Georgia, despite holding no official position.
The EU-candidate Black Sea nation’s government faces accusations of an authoritarian, pro-Russian shift that has undermined Georgia’s EU bid, a goal enshrined in the constitution and supported by 80 per cent of the population. AFP
