Protesters rallied in Georgia’s capital for a fourth consecutive night on Sunday and there were signs that opposition was spreading to the government’s decision to suspend talks on joining the European Union.

For months, tensions have been rising between the ruling Georgian Dream party and opponents who accuse it of pursuing increasingly authoritarian, anti-western and pro-Russian policies.

The crisis has deepened since Thursday’s announcement that the government would freeze EU talks for four years, when thousands of pro-EU demonstrators faced off against police armed with teargas and water cannon.

Georgia’s pro-western president, Salome Zourabichvili, called for pressure to be brought on the constitutional court to annul October’s elections won by Georgian Dream. Both the opposition and Zourabichvili say the poll was rigged.

Protesters gathered again in Tbilisi on Sunday night on the central Rustaveli Avenue. Beyond the capital, demonstrators blocked an access road into the country’s main commercial port in the Black Sea city of Poti, the Georgian news agency Interpress said.

Georgian media reported protests in at least eight cities and towns. The opposition TV channel Formula showed footage of people in Khashuri, a town of 20,000 in central Georgia, throwing eggs at the local Georgian Dream office and tearing down the party’s flag.

The interior minister said on Sunday that 44 people had been taken to hospital after Saturday’s protests, including 27 protesters, 16 police officers and one media worker.

An effigy of the founder of Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, was burned in front of the legislature.

The prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, said at a briefing: “Any violation of the law will be met with the full rigour of the law. Neither will those politicians who hide in their offices and sacrifice members of their violent groups to severe punishment escape responsibility.”

He said it was not true that Georgia’s European integration had been halted. “The only thing we have rejected is the shameful and offensive blackmail, which was in fact a significant obstacle to our country’s European integration,” he said.

The government’s announcement came hours after the European parliament adopted a resolution saying the general election in Georgia was not free or fair.

The EU’s new foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, and the enlargement commissioner, Marta Kos, said in a joint statement on Sunday: “We note that this announcement marks a shift from the policies of all previous Georgian governments and the European aspirations of the vast majority of the Georgian people, as enshrined in the constitution of Georgia.”

They reiterated the EU’s “serious concerns about the continuous democratic backsliding of the country” and urged Georgian authorities to “respect the right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, and refrain from using force against peaceful protesters, politicians and media representatives.”

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Georgian Dream’s disputed victory in the parliamentary election on 26 October, which was widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s aspirations to join the EU, has sparked demonstrations and led to an opposition boycott of parliament.

The opposition said the vote was rigged with the help of Russia, Georgia’s former imperial master, as Moscow hopes to keep Tbilisi in its orbit.

Zourabichvili said on Saturday that her country was becoming a “quasi-Russian” state and that Georgian Dream controlled the major institutions.

“We are not demanding a revolution. We are asking for new elections, but in conditions that will ensure that the will of the people will not be misrepresented or stolen again,” Zourabichvili said.

The EU granted Georgia candidate member status in December 2023 on condition that it met the bloc’s recommendations, but put its accession on hold and cut financial support this year after the passage of a “foreign influence” law that was widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report.