Thousands in Georgia human chain as pro-EU protests enter 2nd month
Thousands of Georgians formed a human chain in central Tbilisi on Saturday, in support of the country's European Union membership, marking second month of their daily pro-Europe rallies.
Mass street protests gripped Georgia since November 28, when the ruling Georgian Dream party's increasingly authoritarian government said it will not seek the opening of EU accession talks until 2028.
The protest came a day before a controversial inauguration of Georgian Dream loyalist Mikheil Kavelashvili as the county's new president, after his election was declared "illegitimate" by the current leader Salome Zurabishvili and the pro-Western opposition.
On Saturday afternoon, thousands of demonstrators, waving Georgian and EU flags, lined the Mtkvari River embankment and several bridges in the capital, Tbilisi, forming a kilometres-long human chain, seen by a reporter of the French news agency AFP.
"I Want to Hold Your Hand," a hit song by the English rock band the Beatles, echoed from speakers mounted on a car as it drove along the human chain.
Zurabishvili, at loggerheads with the ruling party, has joined the demonstrators at Tbilisi's Dry Bridge.
Similar rallies were held in cities across Georgia, local media reported.
On the Metekhi Bridge in the historic district of the city, protesters displayed a banner reading "Freedom for political prisoners."
(With newswires)
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