Ruling party MP Makhashvili accuses Brussels representatives of ‘feeding’ Georgia’s post-election protests

Levan Makhashvili, Chairman of the Georgian Parliament’s European Integration Committee, has accused representatives of Brussels of contributing to the development of the protest movement that emerged after Georgia’s 2024 parliamentary elections.

“It is an aggressive community whose goal is to introduce destruction. A particular role is played by those representatives of Brussels who have fed this destruction for years. Perhaps it is time for them, both inside and outside the country, to reconsider their contribution and responsibility to this process,” Makhashvili said.

He described the protesters as a “pseudo-religious, aggressive community”, arguing that their approach was incompatible with democratic dialogue and the expression of differing views.

“Regardless of how high-minded the positions with which they initially entered the protest may have been, when you do not take other people’s opinions into account and have radical attitudes, sooner or later everything will come to this,” Makhashvili said.

Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili also referred to the issue, writing that it was an opportunity to examine the “transformation” of a group of political protest activists into a “pseudo-religious movement”.