David Matikashvili, a member of Georgia’s parliamentary majority, has accused European parliamentarians of attempting to serve as a “lifeline” for what he called “a handful of radicals protesting in Tbilisi.”

Speaking about the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee’s annual report on Georgia,  Matikashvili claimed the document contained “completely absurd and false issues.”

“They are trying to serve as a lifeline for radicals again. As soon as a handful of radicals on Rustaveli Avenue stop running around in the evenings, or if they decrease in number, the people or groups of people appear as task-givers who try to increase their activity a bit more,” he said.

Matikashvili criticised what he described as “completely improper theses” toward the Georgian people in the report, claiming it ignored the views of 1.12 million people in favour of “300-400 radicals running around the streets in the evenings.”

“The truth is well known by those who put forward these completely absurd theses that are different from and contrary to Georgia’s constitutional order,” he said. “When you call Salome Zourabichvili legitimate – someone no one remembers in politics and who made herself memorable to society through her negative behaviour – that says everything.”