Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Sunday accused the opposition of trying to topple the government and vowed to crackdown dissent, hours after demonstrators tried to storm the presidential palace.
Kobakhidze made the remarks a day after tens of anti-government protesters marched in capital Tbilisi, waiving EU and Georgian flags as municipal elections were being held. The protesters boycotted the election, called for the release of political prisoners, and slammed the government's democratic backsliding. Some protesters attempted to breach the presidential palace but were stopped by the police forces that used tear gas and water cannons.
“No one will escape responsibility. This includes political responsibility. Several people have already been arrested - first and foremost the organisers of the attempted overthrow,” the Georgian news agency Interpress quoted Kobakhidze as saying. Twenty-one members of the security forces and six demonstrators were injured during the clash between police and demonstrators, local media cited the health ministry as saying. Five individuals, among them renowned opera singer Paata Burchuladze, were detained after Saturday’s protest. Georgia’s Interior Ministry stated that they were charged with inciting a violent overthrow of the government and with organizing, directing, and taking part in acts of group violence. The ministry also pledged to identify and pursue all those who attempted to storm the presidential palace.
The prime minister also blamed the EU for the anti-government sentiments in the country and directly accused the EU’s ambassador to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, of meddling into Tbilisi's domestic politics. “You know that specific people from abroad have even expressed direct support for all this, for the announced attempt to overthrow the constitutional order,” Kobakizde said, adding that Herczyński “bears special responsibility in this context”.
“Herczyński should come out, distance himself and strictly condemn everything that is happening on the streets of Tbilisi,” he stressed. Kobakhidze highlighted that the opposition forces will no longer be allowed to be active in Georgian politics.
