Thousands protest in Georgia as new president sworn in
Thousands of Georgians protested in the capital, Tbilisi, as a new president aligned with the ruling Georgian Dream party took office.
Former professional footballer Mikheil Kavelashvili was sworn in at a critical political time for the country after the government suspended its bid to join the European Union.
Georgian Dream won parliamentary elections in October, but that victory was mired in accusations of fraud and has since sparked numerous street protests.
Outgoing President Salome Zurabichvili refused to step down on Sunday, calling her the “only legitimate president.”
Addressing a crowd gathered outside, Zurabichvili said she was leaving the presidential palace but called her successor illegitimate.
“This building is only a symbol if the legitimate president is sitting here,” she said.
Georgia’s four main opposition groups rejected Kavelashvili and boycotted parliament.
Kavelashvili is a former lawmaker from the Georgian Dream party and the only candidate for the position. Zurabichvili had previously denounced his election as a travesty.
Georgian Dream has become increasingly authoritarian in recent years, passing Russian-style laws targeting media and non-governmental groups that receive foreign funding, as well as the LGBT community.
It refused to join the West in imposing sanctions on Russia after a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, calling the West a “global war party” and mocking its stated goal of joining the European Union and NATO.
The vast majority of Georgians support the country’s path to EU membership, which is part of the constitution.
But the country’s ruling party said in November last year that the government would not pursue EU membership negotiations before 2028.
The news sparked days of protests, with riot police using tear gas and water cannons against protesters, who fought back by throwing fireworks and rocks.
Protesters waving Georgian and European Union flags gathered again ahead of the inauguration on Saturday, forming a kilometers-long human chain.
“I took to the streets with my whole family to try to somehow free this small country from the clutches of the Russian Empire,” one protester told The Associated Press.
America this week impose sanctions Bidzina Ivanishvili, former Prime Minister of Georgia and billionaire founder of Georgian Dream.
Georgia implements a parliamentary democracy, with the president as the head of state and the prime minister as the chairman of the parliament.
Zurabichvili was supported by Georgian Dream when she became president in 2018, but she has since denounced their disputed election victory in late October as a “Russian special operation” and endorsed it every night in Pro-EU protest outside parliament.
