Protests Erupt in Georgia as It Pulls Back From Pro-Western Path

Protests resumed in Georgia on Friday after thousands of people demonstrated overnight in front of the Parliament building in Tbilisi, the capital, following a government announcement that the country had suspended its bid to join the European Union for four years.

The announcement has further deepened the conflict between the country’s opposition, which wants closer ties with the West, and the governing Georgian Dream party, which has been pivoting Georgia away from Europe toward Russia and China.

The protests were prompted by an announcement on Thursday by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who said the country was putting the process of accession into the European Union on hold until 2028.

Mr. Kobakhidze also said that Georgia would decline all grants from the European Union, which has allocated more than $500 million to the country since 2019.

On Friday night, thousands of protesters returned to the Parliament building, blocking Tbilisi’s main Rustaveli Avenue. The day before, they had erected makeshift barricades on the avenue, chanting “slaves” and “Russians,” before they were dispersed by riot police, whose officers used water cannons and tear gas to push the crowd away from the Parliament building.

The police, some of them masked, used rough tactics against protesters and journalists who were covering the rally, pushing and beating some in clashes.