Civic activists, citizens, students and members of domestic opposition parties are gathered yesterday at a rally in support of Georgia’s European integration in Tbilisi, after the demonstration was called earlier by the civic movement Shame.
Participants of the rally stayed in front of the Parliament overnight. The protest was held outside the Parliament building on the city’s central Rustaveli Avenue, with citizens from various regions joining the gathering.
The protesters came to the party’s office located several kilometers of the parliament building. The Georgian Dream’s office was cordoned off by the police. Protesters were not clashing with law enforcers.
Shame movement called for the formation of a “technical interim government of national accord” that would be tasked with implementing the 12 recommendations issued by the EU for Georgia to receive the candidate status later this year.
A rally in front of the parliament building in Tbilisi began on Sunday evening. Protesters demand resignation of the government to form a national accord cabinet that would be able to carry out reforms necessary to receive a candidate country status in the European Union. They blocked traffic along the central Rustaveli Avenue, where the parliament building is located.
On June 23, the European Union summit granted the candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova but postponed such decision in respect of Georgia, which was given six months to carry out necessary reforms. However, there are no clear timelines for granting EU membership to the three countries. Talks on that matter may last for years.
Georgia has been a member of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership program of cooperation with the former Soviet republics since 2009. In 2014, the country signed an association agreement with the European Union. In 2017, Georgian nationals were granted the right to make visa-free travels to Schengen countries.
