After the appointment of the new president of Georgia, the opposition took to the streets

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Mikheil Kavelashvili, an ally of Georgia’s authoritarian ruling party, was sworn in as president of the Caucasus nation, sparking further protests in the capital, Tbilisi.

Kavelashvili’s inauguration marks the latest step in what critics say is a state grab by pro-Russian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose Georgian Dream party has taken control of all the country’s institutions since coming to power in 2012. They were elected this month by a 300-member college, mostly GD members or supporters.

Protesters took to the streets with a red card – a sign of opposition to the former football player Manchester City striker And several Swiss clubs, turned into ultranationalist firebrands.

Protesters who have held daily rallies for the past month welcomed the US State Department’s move to impose sanctions on Ivanishvili as the country’s political crisis worsened. He was struck by the measures announced on Friday, “undermining the democratic and Euro-Atlantic future of Georgia for the benefit of the Russian Federation.”

Leaving the Orbeliani Palace from the seat of the President on Sunday Salome ZurabichviliThe outgoing president of the country and leader of the opposition party, said that her role continued as the rightful authority.

In a speech to Georgians gathered in front of the palace, she denounced Kavelashvili’s inauguration as a “parody” and said that “for the country and the people . . . I will leave with you and stay with you.

Zorabichvili remains undecided whether to barricade herself in the palace or leave it, several people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times. And she had said. She would not step down. The college, which is dominated by members of the ruling party, said it had no legitimacy to elect Kavelashvili as president until new elections were held.

She also demanded a new election. The European Parliament said the October vote was “neither free nor fair”.

Georgia It has been a year of political strife. On December 14 last year, people took to the streets of Tbilisi and other cities to celebrate the country’s recognition as a candidate for the European Union, a long-held dream for many in the small Caucasus nation of 3.8mn.

But the authoritarian slide accelerated in May when parliament passed the Foreign Agents Act, dubbed the “Russia Act,” despite months of opposition.

Non-governmental organizations have warned that it is a tool to destroy civil society, reflecting Russia’s practice of using the “foreign agent” label as a pretext for prosecution. Unlike Russia, organizations in Georgia must register themselves, but most NGOs have not allowed their opposition.

The next flash came when Georgian Dream received 54 percent of the vote in October’s parliamentary elections. There were widespread violations at the polls on election day, including stolen IDs and “carousel voting,” in which the same people voted at different polling stations, according to several observers. The opposition parties rejected the results and boycotted the parliament and demanded new elections.

GD-backed Prime Minister Irakli Kobakiziz announced at the end of November that Georgia had suspended EU accession talks and promised to revisit the issue in 2028 so that the country could join “with dignity”.

Protests have escalated and police crackdowns have been unprecedented, with dozens hospitalized and hundreds arrested.

“Cracks in the system appeared when people lit up the Georgian dream, beating their neighbors and family – this was the last straw,” said opposition politician and former media manager Tamar Chergoleishvili.

The old leader Elene Khoshtaria! (It’s time!), part of the liberal coalition that came second in the parliamentary election, according to the official results, called the opposition a “national protest movement.”

“It’s not about your favorite party. It’s about you and your children being able to continue to live more or less peacefully in this country,” she said.

For some opposition politicians, the country’s descent into dictatorship was little surprise.

“For more than 10 years, I’ve been saying that Ivanishvili’s direction is toward (Ukraine’s former pro-Russian supporter Viktor) Yanukovych,” former national security adviser Giga Bokeria said. “You may be surprised by the speed and certain shapes of the rotation, but not the rotation itself.”

Corneli Kakachia, director of the Georgian Institute of Politics in Tbilisi, said the ruling party was taking a gamble by increasing repression of civil society.

“The more people you get, the more they go out,” he said. “Georgians will not tolerate this. Too many people (in Ivanishvili) are fed up.