Georgia’s ruling party official accuses MEPs of double standards over protests in Georgia and France

Levan Machavariani, the First Deputy Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party’s parliamentary faction, said on Saturday that the failure of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to comment on what he described as unprecedented police violence during protests in France, while characterising an attempt to burn a police officer alive in Georgia as a peaceful protest, demonstrated their double standards.

“During the violent demonstrations in November and December 2024, funded by Brussels and aimed at overthrowing the government, we witnessed only isolated instances of excessive force by individual special forces officers. Although around a thousand trained individuals were engaging in violence against special forces personnel, only a few officers exceeded their authority. The state responded to these incidents, and those responsible were punished in accordance with the law”, Machavariani said.

“As the scenario of a revolution officially encouraged by Brussels unfolded on October 4 [2025], we witnessed hundreds of violent demonstrators storming the presidential palace. In this instance, our law enforcement officers thwarted the assault on the state with such precision that not a single person suffered even the slightest injury”, he continued.

The official criticised European bureaucrats for portraying acts of violence, the burning of police and parliamentary buildings, and the attempted storming of the presidential palace as peaceful protests, while simultaneously seeking to portray the prevention of the assault as systemic violence.

“For about two weeks now, protests have been taking place in France demanding better educational conditions. The information space is flooded with videos showing unprecedented levels of police violence. In many instances, this violence is directed against women and children. Throughout this entire period, not a single comment has been made by those European bureaucrats who describe the attempt to burn a police officer alive in our country as a peaceful protest”, Machavariani claimed.

“Not even the briefest statement has been issued by those Members of the European Parliament who characterised the security agencies’ prevention of an assault on the state as systemic violence. In effect, they have accused our government of political persecution for preventing violent revolutions in Georgia”, he added.

Machavariani said that, alongside what he described as this “criminal” silence, the same European bureaucrats had continued to refer to former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as a political prisoner in their latest, ninth resolution, which he described as particularly tragic.

“As the current US administration notes in its National Security Strategy document, Brussels is driving the European Union towards a civilisational abyss”, he concluded.