TBILISI: The European Union on Wednesday called on Georgia to respect the right of peaceful assembly and not use force against protesters.

“Georgia is an EU candidate country, I call on its authorities to ensure the right to peaceful assembly.

Use of force to suppress it is unacceptable,“ EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, wrote on his page in X.

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Borrell’s comments came the day after Georgian security forces had used water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the crowd protesting against a controversial “foreign agents’ bill in Tbilisi.