TBILISI, November 29. /TASS/. Georgia’s opposition hatched plans to stage riots on December 16 after the European Commission's would-be refusal to begin talks on the country’s accession to the European Union, Mamuka Mdinaradze, executive secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party, said.
"It was planned to organize riots in Georgia on December 16 using the European Commission’s refusal to begin talks with Georgia as a pretext," he told a briefing.
According to Mdinaradze, the Georgian authorities’ decision to postpone the issue of the beginning of talks with the European Union to late 2028 was meant, among other things, to quash the opposition’s protest pep and avoid unrest after December 16. He said that a similar situation happened in the spring, when the ruling party adopted the foreign agents law, pre-empting opposition protests in an effort to tire them out before the parliamentary elections in October, where similar disturbances were anticipated.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said on Thursday that the ruling party had decided to postpone any talk about launching accession negotiations until late 2028 and decline any funding from the European Union. According to the premier, the decision comes after repeated attempts by the EU to blackmail Georgia with promises of launching the talks in exchange for Tbilisi revoking certain laws passed by the country’s parliament.
Kobakhidze’s statement was followed by protests in downtown Tbilisi. A rally in front of the parliamentary building grew into clashes with the police who used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the protesters.