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Protesters in the Georgian capital Tbilisi took to the streets for a third night on Saturday as public anger mounted over the government’s decision to freeze EU accession negotiations.

Violent clashes with police broke out during protests over the previous two days, during which hundreds of people were arrested and dozens injured. It is one of the most intense protests Georgia has seen in decades.

The protesters oppose the government’s decision to suspend negotiations with the EU and refuse any funding from the bloc until 2028.

On Friday, barricades and fires appeared on Tbilisi’s main Rustaveli Avenue. Protesters responded to police water cannons and tear gas by pointing fireworks at police lines. Protesters stormed the headquarters of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party.

Many universities, schools, businesses and nightclubs have closed their doors in protest against the government’s actions. Hundreds of state employees, including some in government ministries and the Constitutional Court, signed letters opposing the decision.

On Thursday, Georgian President and key opposition figure Salome Zourabichvili said GD had “declared war” on the country’s citizens. On Friday, she said: “The resistance movement has begun. »

Ketevan Chachava, director of the Tbilisi-based NGO Center for Development and Democracy, said the crackdown “seems calculated to intimidate dissent but risks further galvanizing public anger.”

“The next few days will be critical,” she added.

Guram Chukhrukidze, an economist in his 30s who was among the demonstrators Friday night, called police at the protests “very violent” and said he had been hit by rubber bullets. But he said he would return to the streets on Saturday.

“People are super motivated to fight and I am sure we will win, this regime is based on police force and nothing else,” he said.

The wave of protests marks the latest stage of a protracted political crisis in Georgia. GD has been in power since 2012 and has gradually expanded its influence over almost all of the country’s institutions, bringing the South Caucasian republic back into the Russian orbit.

Eka Gigauri, director of Transparency International Georgia, another NGO, said the protests were a “generational fight.”

“When Georgians understand that the European future must be taken away from them, that the country must turn to Russia, they fight,” she said. “Russia wants to capture us, that’s what’s happening.”

Earlier this month, GD announced that they had won national elections with 54 percent of the vote. But Brussels and Washington expressed their concern on the legitimacy of the result due to reports of intimidation, ballot stuffing and fraud at polling stations.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for elections to be held again and sanctions against leading Georgian politicians, including oligarch and GD founder Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Many members of the Georgian opposition see Russia’s hand in this alleged electoral manipulation.

Brussels halted Georgia’s accession negotiations this summer over a controversial “foreign agents” law that critics say is inspired by Vladimir Putin’s Russia. He need NGOs and media outlets that receive foreign funding must register with the government or face fines.

More than 80 percent of Georgia’s 3.8 million residents support EU membership, according to polls by local and international research organizations.

Despite GD’s fiercely anti-Western rhetoric, the party has so far championed European integration. He was in power when Georgia enshrined its desire for EU membership in the constitution in 2017 and was granted candidate status late last year.

As recently as this month’s elections, GD endorsed EU and NATO membership.

But, announcing the suspension of accession negotiations earlier this week, GD Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said they would resume when Georgia was “economically ready”. It would rejoin the EU by 2030, but “with dignity” rather than “as part of charity”, he said.

Speaking during a state visit to Kazakhstan on Thursday, Putin said he was surprised by the “courage and determination of the Georgian government to defend its beliefs.”