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TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Police in Georgia's capital early on Tuesday moved in to break up a tent camp that demonstrators set up on a central thoroughfare to protest the results of last month's parliamentary election and demand a new vote.
The Oct. 26 election kept the governing Georgian Dream party in power, but opponents say the vote was rigged. Many Georgians viewed the election as a referendum on the country’s effort to join the European Union. Several large protests have been held since then.
Protesters had set up the tent camp in Tbilisi, the capital, and had vowed to stay around the clock to demand new parliamentary elections. As police moved to disperse it, there were scuffles and several protesters were detained, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. Some of the demonstrators were displaying European Union flags.
“We, the citizens, are gathered here to protest against rigged elections. We have the right to freedom of assembly, the right to gather, and the right to protest the terrible processes that took place on Oct. 26 and beyond," protester Gigi Chikhladze told the AP after the camp was dispersed.
“The legal ways to challenge the election results have been almost entirely exhausted, without an outcome. We are here to protest, and as you can see, we are being denied that right.”
Up to 1,000 protesters, however, remained at the site as of early Tuesday afternoon.
Elene Khoshtaria, leader of Coalition for Change, which unites several opposition parties, vowed to continue the protests, telling the AP: “There was absolutely no reason for dispersal, but it will not stop our resistance. It’s their mistake, their weakness, and they will pay the price for it. We will continue to resist as long as it takes.”
President Salome Zourabichvili, who has rejected the official results, on Tuesday filed a lawsuit to the Constitutional Court, arguing that two fundamental principles guaranteed by the Constitution — the secrecy of the vote and its universality — were violated. Zourabichvili, who holds a mostly ceremonial position, has said Georgia has fallen victim to pressure from Moscow against joining the EU.
Critics have accused Georgian Dream — established by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia — of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow. The party recently pushed through laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.
On Sunday, demonstrators closed an avenue leading into the center of Tbilisi. Nika Melia, leader of Coalition for Change, one of the opposition groups, voiced hope that the protests around the clock will mark “the beginning of the intense, strong protest movement that will finish with the fall of Ivanishvili’s regime.”
The EU suspended Georgia’s membership application process indefinitely in June after the country’s parliament passed a law requiring organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “pursuing the interest of a foreign power,” similar to a Russian law used to discredit organizations critical of the government.
The Central Election Commission said Georgian Dream won about 54% of the vote in October. Its leaders have rejected opposition claims of vote fraud. European election observers said the election took place in a “divisive” atmosphere marked by instances of bribery, double voting and physical violence.