Georgia police fire tear gas to scatter protesters, Russian agencies say

TBILISI: Police in Georgia fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse protesters in Tbilisi, the capital, who opposed the government’s decision to suspend talks on joining the European Union, while some were detained, Russian agencies said on Monday.

Thousands of protesters had taken to the streets for several days in the nation of 3.7 million, accusing the ruling Georgian Dream party of pursuing increasingly authoritarian, anti-Western and pro-Russian policies.

Police ended hours of standoff early on Monday by moving demonstrators away from the parliament building and down the central Rustaveli Avenue towards the Tbilisi opera house and began erecting barricades with any material they could find.

Amid skirmishes with police, the demonstrators were forced off the avenue as they tossed fireworks at law enforcement officers, who responded with volleys of water cannon and tear gas, Russian agencies said.

After months of rising tension, the crisis has worsened since Thursday’s announcement that the government would freeze EU talks for four years, with pro-EU demonstrators facing off against police.

It was not immediately clear how many protesters were detained by early on Monday, when Russia’s Interfax news agency said only a small group was left near a metro station.

It said 113 police officers were injured during the Tbilisi protests of the last few days, citing the Georgian interior (home) ministry.

On Sunday, four opposition groups urged protesters to demand paid leave from their jobs in order to attend protests, as provided by labour law, and asked employers to permit time off.

Protesters clash with Georgian police over government’s EU application delay

Georgia’s pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili called for pressure to be brought on the Constitutional Court to annul elections last month won by Georgian Dream.

Both the opposition and Zourabichvili say the poll was rigged.

The European Union and the United States said they were alarmed by what they see as Georgia’s shift away from a pro-Western path back towards Russia’s orbit.

Georgian Dream says it is acting to defend the country’s sovereignty against outside interference.