Georgian Parliament Speaker criticises EU officials for silence after October 4 violence

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili sharply criticised senior European Union officials - EU High Representative Kaja Kallas and EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos - accusing them of ignoring the violent events that took place in Georgia on October 4.

In his interview with the Georgian Public Broadcaster, Papuashvili noted that, despite the attempted storming of the President’s Palace by a mob supported by Western actors, EU leaders failed to condemn the violence.

Papuashvili stressed that Georgian society had narrowly avoided bloodshed, while the EU officials acted as if nothing had happened.

“October 4 came - we witnessed violence. The next day, we saw statements from Kaja Kallas and Marta Kos, which completely ignored the fact that a mob, encouraged by their rhetoric, tried to seize the President’s Palace”, the Speaker said.

He further stressed that Georgian society has shown wisdom and no longer listens to “reckless and frivolous statements” from Brussels, emphasising that the attempted assault on the presidential residence occurred while votes were still being counted

“We all saw the violent attack broadcast live. This confirmed what we had been warning about - that a violent gathering was being planned for October 4. Ten days before the elections, the European Commission’s spokesperson expressed solidarity with those who would later organize this violence. I repeatedly asked whether the EU intended to clarify or distance itself from that statement. There was complete silence”, he continued.

He emphasized that on October 4, violence broke out, and the next day, statements from Kallas and Kos made no mention of the fact that the crowd they had supported had attempted to storm the president’s residence.

“They didn’t acknowledge it at all. In reality, our country narrowly escaped a disaster. Just recently, Marina Chitashvili, one of the radical opposition’s propagandists, gave an interview where she admitted that the October 4 rally failed to achieve its goal. She listed those goals: there should have been bloodshed, gunfire, and victims. Only then would the rally have had an impact. That’s what they expected - blood, casualties, and gunshots. That’s what our society narrowly avoided on October 4”, the Parliament Speaker stressed.

“We avoided a return to the 90s, to bloodshed and civil strife. And then suddenly, now we hear that these foreign figures are calling for dialogue, as if nothing had happened”, he concluded.