Georgia’s outgoing president urges EU to use more leverage to back protesters

Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — Georgia’s outgoing president wants the European Union to press her country’s pro-Russia government to hold a new election. The call by President Salome Zourabichvili on Wednesday came amid a police crackdown on peaceful opposition protesters. Tens of thousands of people have filled the streets regularly since the governing Georgian Dream party decided to suspend negotiations on joining the 27-nation EU. Police have increasingly used force and intimidation in their attempts to break up the rallies. Zourabichvili told EU lawmakers on Wednesday that “Europe needs to find the leverage to act.”