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The nation's prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, has unveiled a broad suppression on dissent, accusing protesters who attempted to storm the official residence of seeking to topple his administration and blaming the EU for meddling in Georgia's affairs.

Kobakhidze made these allegations just a day after protesters tried to enter the presidential palace during local elections. Security forces halted their advance by using irritant spray and water cannon.

"Not a single person will escape accountability. This encompasses political responsibility," Kobakhidze was quoted as saying.

Law enforcement arrested at least five protesters, among them two members of the United National Movement and the vocal artist turned activist Paata Burchuladze.

Local media reported the ministry of health as stating that twenty-one police officers and 6 demonstrators had been hurt in clashes in the heart of the capital.

Background of the Political Crisis

The South Caucasus country has been in turmoil since Kobakhidze's governing GD party claimed victory in the previous year's parliamentary election, which the European-leaning opposition asserts was stolen. Since then, Tbilisi's negotiations on joining the bloc have been frozen.

Kobakhidze stated that up to seven thousand people participated in Saturday's protest gathering but their "attempt to overthrow the government" had been thwarted despite what he described as support from the European Union.

"Several people have already been arrested – first and foremost the leaders of the attempted coup," he informed reporters, stating that the country's main opposition force "will no longer be allowed from operating in the nation's political scene."

Opposition Appeals and Administration Reaction

Protest leaders had urged a "non-violent uprising" against GD, which they allege of being pro-Russian and authoritarian. The political group has been in power since 2012.

A large crowd of demonstrators gathered in the heart of the capital, displaying national and European flags, after months of targeted operations on independent media, restrictions on non-governmental groups and the arrest of many of critics and campaigners.

Kobakhidze accused the EU's ambassador to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, of interference. "It is known that certain individuals from overseas have even expressed direct support for all this, for the declared effort to overthrow the constitutional order," he said, noting that Herczyński "bears special responsibility in this context."

"[Herczyński] should come out, dissociate himself and strongly denounce everything that is happening on the streets of Tbilisi," said Kobakhidze.

European Union Response and Continuing Geopolitical Tensions

In the summer, the EU's diplomatic service dismissed what it termed "false information and unfounded claims" about the EU's alleged role in the nation.

The pro-western opposition have been organizing demonstrations since the previous autumn, when Georgian Dream won a parliamentary election that its opponents claim was marred by fraud. The ruling group has rejected allegations of vote-rigging.

Georgia has the objective of joining the European Union written into its founding document and has long been among the most pro-western of the former Soviet republics. Its relations with the west have been strained since Moscow's military offensive of its neighbor in 2022.

Georgian Dream is controlled by its founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country's richest man and a former prime minister, and rejects it is pro-Moscow. It states it wants to join the EU while preserving peace with Moscow.