The anti -government demonstrators in Georgia are trying to storm the presidential palace

On Saturday, the police in Georgia were used to push the demonstrators who tried to storm the presidential palace, as a country south of the Caucasus held municipal elections boycotted by the main opposition blocs amid a comprehensive campaign against the opposition.

Tens of thousands of people in the capital, Tbilisi, gathered to protest the repressive policies by the conservative ruling party, the Georgian dream, which they see as trying to attract the country away from its democratic aspirations to the orbit of Russia.

They carried the flags of Georgian and banners that support membership in the European Union, a dear goal for many who were devoted to the country’s constitution.

The Georgian dream stopped talks about joining the bloc last year, which led to waves of protests that were met with mass arrest and police violence. The move came after the ruling party announced a long time ago in elections that the opposition said was forged.

The large and small gatherings, despite the multi -sided campaign by the government through laws targeting demonstrators, rights groups, NGOs (NGOs) and independent media. Critics say that some have been designed on legislation approved in Russia, where President Vladimir Putin severely strangled.

“We are fighting for our rights, for independence.” She said she did not want to see a return to the Soviet era, when Georgia ruled from Moscow.

The rally organizers, including veteran opera singer Pat Porsolads, called on the demonstrators to “restore power to the hands of the people”, which directly frustrated with a government that imprisoned major opposition figures, who tried to close the important media and used highly declining grams against peaceful exhibitors.

Then some tried to force to enter the presidential palace in the center of Tbilisi, and to break the gate before the riot police fired it.

The opposition promised a “peaceful revolution” before the municipal elections on Saturday, which was boycotted by most of the parties criticizing the Georgian dream. Initial data from the Central Electoral Committee in the country indicated less than 30 percent of the turnout in the first half of the day.

Giorgi Rojadz, a political analyst in Tbilisi, who was one of the demonstrators who were walking on Saturday, refused to vote as “fake elections.”

He said, “The only way to put the (Georgian dream) of power in peace is lack of exercise and non -compliance,” on the pretext that people must join any forms of peaceful protests available to them.

The Georgian police said on Saturday that the continuous gathering violated the Georgian laws regulating general assemblies and protests. No details.

Shortly after the closing of the polls on Saturday evening, the Central Elections Committee said that the vote had passed without any major disturbances. She added that results will be announced within hours.

More than 50 international and local groups have been registered to monitor the municipal vote. But none of the main international monitoring that monitored the previous local vote in 2021-including delegations from the European Parliament, was the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the main non-profit American organizations-present this time.

The main Georgian NGOs also chose not to publish tasks, noting the brutal repressive laws of the recent dream and the broader deterioration in the political and legal environment.