Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said on Sunday that protesters who sought to force entry to the presidential palace the previous evening had been trying to topple the government and accused the European Union of meddling in Georgia's affairs.
Georgian riot police used pepper spray and water cannons to desperse the demonstrators away from the presidential palace in the capital Tbilisi on Saturday.
Five activists were detaomed in the incident which saw the opposition stage a large demonstration on the day of local elections.
On Sunday, the State Security Service said it had discovered a large cache of weapons, ammunition, explosives and a detonator in a forest outside Tbilisi and said were intended for "subversive acts" at Saturday's protest.
It said a Georgian citizen, whom it identified only by the individual's initials, had purchased the arms at the behest of another Georgian fighting in Ukraine, according to the statement cited by the Interpress news agency.
Kobakhidze said that up to 7,000 people attended Saturday's rally but their "attempt to overthrow the constitutional order" had failed despite what he said was support from Brussels.
He accused EU Ambassador Paweł Herczynski of meddling in Georgian politics and urged him to condemn the protests.
"You know that specific people from abroad have even expressed direct support for all this, for the announced attempt to overthrow the constitutional order," Interpress cited Kobakhidze as saying.
"In this context, the European Union ambassador to Georgia bears special responsibility. He should come out, distance himself and strictly condemn everything that is happening on the streets of Tbilisi."
In a statement on Sunday, the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas and European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kops said the bloc "firmly rejects and condemns the disinformation regarding the EU's role in Georgia and denounces the personal attacks against the Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia."
The statement said the election had taken place "amid a period of extensive crackdown on dissent" and urged authorities and civil society against engaging in violence.
The governing Georgian Dream party claimed victory in every municipality across the South Caucasus country of 3.7 million people in Saturday's municipal election, which was boycotted by the two largest opposition blocs.
Georgia's pro-Western opposition has been staging protests since October last year, when Georgian Dream won a parliamentary election that its critics say was fraudulent. The party has rejected accusations of vote-rigging.
Once one of the most pro-Western nations to emerge from the ashes of the Soviet Union, Georgia has had frayed relations with the West since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has refused to lift his opposition to a €90 billion ($104 billion) European Union loan to help Ukraine keep up its fight against Russia’s invasion, following a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday (19 March).
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 20th of March, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Danish troops flown to Greenland in January were ready to blow up airport runways in the event of a potential U.S. attack, Denmark’s public broadcaster DR reported on Thursday (19 March), citing soruces within the country and among European allies.
Iranian attacks have wiped out 17% of Qatar’s liquified natural gas export capacity (LNG), equivalent to $20 billion in lost annual revenue, the CEO of Qatar’s state-owned energy company, Saad al-Kaabi said on Thursday (19 March).
One person has died after a cable car cabin at the Titlis ski resort in central Switzerland plunged down a snow-covered mountainside on Wednesday (18 March) amid strong winds.
Iranian President Pezeshkian has confirmed the killing of intelligence minister Esmail Khatib calling it a "cowardly assassination", following reports that Israel carried out an overnight strike.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Israel struck Iran’s South Pars gas field without U.S. or Qatari involvement, and warned that any Iranian attack on Qatar would prompt massive retaliation. The comments come as regional tensions soar after Tehran fired missiles at Gulf energy sites.
When a NATO-led coalition helped to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi’s dictatorship in Libya in 2011, it looked like the sun had risen on a new era. But within years, the nation was gripped by a second civil war, declining living standards and collapsing institutions. Could Iran follow suit?
South Korean pop sensation BTS, one of the world’s biggest music acts known for their record-breaking albums, global tours and devoted fanbase ARMY, will return to the spotlight in a new documentary, BTS: THE RETURN, premiering globally on Netflix on 27 March.
Israel reportedly launched a fresh wave of attacks on Iran on Friday (20 March), a day after U.S. President Donald Trump told it not to repeat its strikes on Iranian natural gas infrastructure, which sharply escalated the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Iranian attacks have wiped out 17% of Qatar’s liquified natural gas export capacity (LNG), equivalent to $20 billion in lost annual revenue, the CEO of Qatar’s state-owned energy company, Saad al-Kaabi said on Thursday (19 March).
China is strengthening its presence in Central Asia by increasing gas imports from Turkmenistan and expanding trade and infrastructure cooperation with Kyrgyzstan.
Russia has once again signalled its willingness to restore relations with Georgia, with a senior official claiming that support for renewed ties is growing within the country.
Türkiye’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ahmet Yildiz, has called for Syria to be shielded from the effects of the ongoing regional war, warning that instability could threaten the country’s recovery.
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