Georgian Parliament Speaker describes storming of Presidential Palace with EU flags and EU silence as “catastrophe”

An attempt to violently storm Georgia’s Presidential Palace took place with demonstrators carrying the European Union flag, and this was justified or ignored by the EU Delegation and the European Commission, which is a catastrophe, said on Thursday Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili.

In his remarks, Papuashvili noted that a violent “Nepal scenario” had been announced in Georgia on October 4.

“I was traditionally planning to comment on January 4 as well, noting that three months had passed since October 4 and the European Union had still yet to condemn the violence. However, it was the New Year period and I did not want to unnecessarily burden the public. February 4 will come, and let us wait - perhaps by then we may at least hear one statement from the EU Ambassador saying that a violent storming of the Presidential Palace is not a European form of behaviour. I will suggest such a sentence. Let us see whether the EU Ambassador will say even that”, the Speaker said.

“To this day, the European Union has not condemned the violent storming of the Georgian Presidential Palace carried out by people it supports. Those who participated in the storming can be seen at various receptions at embassies, working in different NGOs, receiving funding, and so on. Those involved in these actions, among others, were acting with EU flags”, Papuashvili continued.

The Speaker highlighted the attempt to storm the Presidential Palace took place with EU flags in hand, while the EU Delegation and the European Commission justified it and turned a blind eye, as catastrophic.

“Not only was this not condemned, but it was explicitly supported by a European Commission spokesperson - the so-called Nepal scenario in Georgia. Violence was announced for October 4, the Nepal scenario was announced, which implies a bloody overthrow of the Government. When the European Commission spokesperson was asked what they thought about the gathering aimed at overthrowing the Government, they said they were in solidarity and supported it. To this day, no one from the European Union has apologised or provided any explanation”, the Speaker stated.

Papuashvili further recalled that support from Brussels was observed during the process of the attempted storming of the Presidential Palace.

“During the implementation phase, we saw support from Brussels - a direct storming of the Presidential Palace was underway, and during this process we saw supportive posts from Brussels. Among others, the President of Moldova expressed support for this violence at a time when a violent storming of the Presidential Palace of her colleague, the President of Georgia, was taking place. This, of course, further fuels suspicions that this was a coordinated and orchestrated informational support for the implementation of a violent Nepal scenario in Georgia”, he noted.

“We are observing the hypocrisy of those Europeans who supported this, and as soon as the so-called October revolution failed, they all retreated into corners and have remained silent about October 4 to this day”, Papuashvili concluded.