Papuashvili links Macron’s stance on Georgia protests to violence in France

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has accused French President Emmanuel Macron of supporting violent protesters in Georgia, arguing that France is now experiencing similar violence at home.

“We remember Macron’s statements when he sided with a violent mob that tried to burn down the Georgian parliament. When you sow the wind in another country, you reap the whirlwind on your own,” Papuashvili said.

He added that France had now experienced attacks on state institutions on its own soil.

Papuashvili also accused French police of brutality against demonstrators, citing reports of severe injuries, including a child who allegedly lost an eye, another minor who reportedly suffered a serious hand injury, and a young man whose jaw was broken.

“What we are seeing is, essentially, a bloody chronicle from the streets of Paris,” he said, calling for the violence to end.

Papuashvili said Georgia did not behave like certain European governments that, in his words, watched violence in other countries with satisfaction and encouraged it.

“Of course, this violence must end. Every government must understand that when it supports violence elsewhere, it may eventually face the same violence at home,” he said.