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The nation's prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, has unveiled a comprehensive crackdown on dissent, alleging protesters who tried to breach the official residence of seeking to topple his government and blaming the EU for meddling in the country's affairs.

The prime minister leveled these accusations just a day following demonstrators attempted to breach the presidential palace during local elections. Riot police halted their advance by using pepper spray and water jets.

"Not a single person will avoid responsibility. This encompasses political accountability," the prime minister was quoted as saying.

Officers arrested at least five protesters, among them representatives of the United National Movement and the opera singer turned activist Paata Burchuladze.

Local media reported the health ministry as saying that twenty-one police officers and 6 protesters had been hurt in confrontations in the heart of the capital.

Background of the Political Crisis

The nation of Georgia has been in upheaval since Kobakhidze's ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in the previous year's parliamentary election, which the European-leaning opposition asserts was rigged. Since then, Tbilisi's negotiations on entering the bloc have been frozen.

Kobakhidze stated that up to seven thousand people attended Saturday's opposition rally but their "attempt to topple the government" had been thwarted despite what he described as support from the European Union.

"Several people have been detained – first and foremost the leaders of the attempted coup," he told the press, adding that the primary opposition group "will be barred from being active in Georgian politics."

Protest Movement Appeals and Administration Response

Protest leaders had called for a "peaceful revolution" against GD, which they allege of being pro-Russian and dictatorial. The political group has been in power since 2012.

A large crowd of protesters assembled in the heart of the city, displaying Georgian and EU flags, after months of targeted operations on independent media, restrictions on non-governmental groups and the arrest of many of critics and campaigners.

The prime minister accused the European Union's representative to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, of meddling. "It is known that specific people from overseas have even expressed explicit backing for these actions, for the declared effort to disrupt the legal government," he said, adding that Herczyński "holds particular accountability in this context."

"[Herczyński] should speak out, distance himself and strictly condemn everything that is occurring on the city's avenues," said the prime minister.

EU Response and Continuing Political Strain

In the summer, the European External Action Service rejected what it called "disinformation and baseless accusations" about the Union's supposed involvement in Georgia.

The pro-European factions have been staging protests since last October, when Georgian Dream secured victory in a parliamentary election that its critics claim was tainted by irregularities. The party has denied allegations of vote-rigging.

The country has the objective of EU accession written into its founding document and has long been one of the most Europe-oriented of the former Soviet republics. Its relations with the west have been strained since Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022.

Georgian Dream is directed by its founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country's richest man and a former prime minister, and rejects it is pro-Moscow. It says it wants to join the European Union while maintaining stability with Russia.