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Protests have erupted in Tbilisi after the close of polls in local elections taking place in Georgia on October 4. Crowds have breached the grounds of the presidential palace, scuffling with police who used pepper spray and deployed water cannons.

Early projections indicate the ruling Georgian Dream party has a solid lead all across the nation, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has said. The polls were partially boycotted by the opposition, which had earlier pledged to stage a “peaceful revolution.”

The vote comes after almost a year of the nonstop protests that erupted in response to the ruling Georgian Dream party’s decision to halt EU integration. It declared that it would not pursue accession negotiations for the next four years shortly after winning the last parliamentary election.

“The opening of negotiations is now being used as a tool to blackmail our country and divide our society, just as [EU] candidate status was previously used,” Kobakhidze has said.

The protesters completely blocked traffic on Melikishvili Avenue and unfurled banners with the slogan “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty!” as well as Georgian national flags. They could also be heard chanting, “Georgia, Georgia!”

The protesters accuse the current authorities, including the founder of Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, and Kobakhidze, of close ties to Russia. The ruling party, which secured a strong majority in last October’s vote, has repeatedly accused Western powers of meddling in the guise of promoting democracy.

Officials in Tbilisi have drawn parallels to the 2014 Maidan uprising in Ukraine and said similar tactics are being used to destabilize Georgia for refusing to adopt a confrontational stance with Russia amid the Ukraine conflict. Moscow, which has denied any involvement in Georgia’s internal affairs, has also drawn a parallel between the events in Georgia and the 2014 coup in Ukraine.

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