TBILISI: Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze vowed opposition arrests Sunday after police used force against opposition protesters who tried to enter the presidential palace in what he termed was a coup bid during a controversial election.
Saturday’s local polls were the ruling populist Georgian Dream party’s first electoral test since a disputed parliamentary vote a year ago plunged the Black Sea nation into turmoil and prompted Brussels to effectively freeze the EU-candidate country’s accession bid.
The central election commission said Georgian Dream had secured municipal council majorities in every municipality and that its candidates scored landslide wins in mayoral races in all cities.
The normally low-key local elections have acquired high stakes after months of raids on independent media, restrictions on civil society and the jailing of dozens of opponents and activists.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators flooded Tbilisi’s Freedom Square after the opposition urged a “last-chance” election-day protest to save democracy.
A group of protesters later tried to enter the presidential palace, prompting riot police to use tear gas and water cannons to repel the crowd.
The interior ministry said on Saturday it had opened an investigation into “calls to violently alter Georgia’s constitutional order or overthrow state authority” and arrested five protest leaders who face up to nine years in prison.
Among those arrested was a world-renowned opera singer and activist Paata Burchuladze who read out at the rally — to loud applause — a declaration claiming “power returns to the people,” branding the government “illegitimate” and announcing a transition.
The pro-opposition Pirveli TV reported that the 70-year-old, was detained in the intensive care unit of a Tbilisi hospital, where he was being treated for a heart attack.
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