Thousands protest in Georgia ahead of political showdown

Thousands of Georgian protesters have formed a chain of people in the capital Tbilisi, ahead of a political event as the new president prepares to be sworn in.

The inauguration of the new president – former Manchester City player Mikheil Kavelashvili, who is seen as a ally of the ruling Georgian Dream party – is due on Sunday.

But the president of this country, Salome Zourabichvili, refuses to leave his position, saying that his decision was not acceptable.

Georgian Dream, which has been in power for 12 years, won parliamentary elections in October, but that victory was met with allegations of fraud and since then there have been protests.

Four opposition groups rejected Kavelashvili and boycotted the parliament.

It is not yet clear how the suspension will be resolved.

Protesters, waving Georgian and EU flags, formed a human chain that stretched for several kilometers on Saturday.

“I’m on the streets with my whole family trying to get this little country out of the hands of the Russian empire,” one protester told the Associated Press.

Georgian Dream has become authoritarian in recent years, with Russian legislation targeting journalists and foreign-funded non-governmental organizations, as well as the LGBT community.

It has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and has called the West a “world war party”, and has scoffed at its intention to join the EU and Nato.

Many Georgians are returning to the EU and are part of the law.

But in November, the ruling party said the government does not want EU talks until 2028.

The announcement sparked days of protests, with riot police firing tear gas and water cannons at protesters, who fought back by throwing firecrackers and rocks.

US this week were given punishments on the former Prime Minister of Georgia and the billionaire founder of the Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Georgia is a parliamentary democracy with the president as the head of state, and the prime minister as the head of the parliament.

The current president, Zourabichvili, criticized Kavelashvili’s election – which was based on an electoral college in which he was the only candidate – as scandalous.

Zourabichvili when he became president in 2018 was endorsed by Georgian Dream, but he denounced their victory in the elections at the end of October as a “special operation of Russia” and supported the nightly protests of the EU outside the parliament.

Zourabichvili has vowed not to resign on Sunday.

The government says that if he refuses to resign, then he has committed a crime.