tbilisi: Georgia has fired around 700 civil servants for supporting pro-European Union protests in the South Caucasus country since December, according to the local chapter of anti-corruption organisation Transparency International.
Large protests erupted in November, after the government, which critics say is moving in a pro-Russian and authoritarian direction, said it was freezing EU membership talks until 2028.
The abrupt halt to a longstanding and popular national goal provoked widespread anger in the nation of 3.7 million. Employees of several government agencies signed open letters denouncing the move and senior diplomats at several foreign embassies resigned in protest. In early December, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said the open letters represented a “self-cleansing” of what he said were disloyal elements in the civil service.
The protests, which are still ongoing, drew a violent crackdown by Georgian authorities that Western countries have condemned.
Since the protests began, the ruling Georgian Dream party has repeatedly amended laws governing the civil service, weakening public sector workers’ legal protections.