Georgia's police use water cannons to push back protesters trying to storm presidential palace

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Police in Georgia used water cannons and pepper spray on Saturday to push back protesters who tried to storm the presidential palace, as the South Caucasus country held a municipal election boycotted by the main opposition blocs amid a sweeping crackdown on dissent.

Tens of thousands rallied in the capital, Tbilisi, to protest repressive policies by the governing party, Georgian Dream, which they see as trying to pull Georgia away from its democratic aspirations and into Russia’s orbit.

They carried Georgian flags and placards supporting membership in the European Union, a cherished goal for many that has been enshrined in the country’s constitution.

Georgian Dream halted talks about joining the bloc last year, triggering waves of protests that have been met with mass arrests and police violence. The move came after the longtime ruling party declared victory in an election the opposition said was rigged.

The rallies, big and small, have continued despite a multipronged crackdown by the government through laws that target demonstrators, rights groups, nongovernmental organizations and independent media. Critics say some have been modeled on legislation passed in Russia, where President Vladimir Putin has harshly stifled dissent.

“We fight for our rights, for independence,” protester Sophio Asatiani told The Associated Press on Saturday. She said that she didn't want to see a return to the Soviet era, when Georgia was ruled from Moscow.

The rally’s organizers, including veteran opera singer Paata Burchuladze, called on protesters to “take power back into the hands of the people,” channelling widespread frustration with a government that has jailed key opposition figures, attempted to shut down critical media and used mass arrest and steep fines against largely peaceful demonstrators.

Some then tried to force entry into the presidential palace in central Tbilisi, smashing the gate before being driven away by riot police.

The opposition had promised a “peaceful revolution” before Saturday’s municipal election, boycotted by most parties critical of Georgian Dream. Preliminary data from the Central Election Commission pointed to less than 30% turnout in the first half of the day.

Giorgi Rukhadze, a political analyst in Tbilisi who was one of the protesters marching on Saturday, dismissed the vote as a “mock election.”

“The only way to put (Georgian Dream) out of power peacefully is non-obedience, noncompliance,” he said, arguing that people should join any forms of peaceful protests available to them.

Georgian police on Saturday said the ongoing rally violated Georgian laws that regulate public assemblies and protest. It didn't provide specifics.

Shortly after polls closed on Saturday evening, Georgia’s Central Election Commission said that the vote had passed with no major disturbances. It added results would be announced within hours.

More than 50 international and local groups were registered to observe the municipal vote. But none of the major international watchdogs that monitored the previous local vote in 2021 — including delegations from the European Parliament, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and major U.S. nonprofits — were present this time.

Key Georgian nongovernmental organizations also chose not to deploy missions, citing Georgian Dream’s recent repressive laws and a broader deterioration in the political and legal environment.

Opposition supporters with Georgian national flags gather in the city center of Tbilisi, Georgia, on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, boycotting the municipal elections and call for the release of political opponents. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)

Police use a water cannon to block protesters during an opposition rally in the city center of Tbilisi, Georgia, on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, boycotting the municipal elections and call for the release of political opponents. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)

Opposition supporters with Georgian national flags gather in the city center of Tbilisi, Georgia, on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, boycotting the municipal elections and call for the release of political opponents. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)

Police use a water cannon to block protesters during an opposition rally in the city center of Tbilisi, Georgia, on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, boycotting the municipal elections and call for the release of political opponents. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)

Opposition supporters with Georgian national and EU flags gather in the city center of Tbilisi, Georgia, on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, boycotting the municipal elections and call for the release of political opponents. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Steel: 50%. Copper: 50%. Cars: up to 25%. But an even bigger Trump-era levy looms: 107 % on Italian pasta.

Mamma mia.

It started with the U.S. Commerce Department launching what it says was a routine antidumping review, based on allegations Italian pasta makers sold product into the US at below-market prices and undercut local competitors. That has led to a threat of 92% duties, which would come on top of the 15% tariff President Donald Trump’s administration imposed on European exports generally.

The news sent shockwaves through Italy, where 13 producers would be subject to the whopping one-two punch. They say sales in their second biggest export market would shrivel if prices to American consumers more than double. And while the measure would hardly prompt pasta shortages, it still has perplexed importers like Sal Auriemma, whose shop in Philadelphia’s Italian market, Claudio Specialty Food, has been operating for over 60 years.

“Pasta is a pretty small sector to pick on. I mean, there’s a lot bigger things to pick on," said Auriemma, pointing to luxury items as an alternative.

But pasta? “It’s basic food,” he said. "Something’s got to be sacred.”

Italy is a nation of avid pasta eaters. Less known is that most of the tortellini, spaghetti and rigatoni its factories churn out gets sent abroad. The U.S. accounts for about 15% of its €4 billion ($4.65 billion) in exports, making it Italy’s largest market after Germany, data from farmers’ association Coldiretti show.

The punitive pasta premium has become a cause célèbre for Italy’s politicians, executives and economists. Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida told lawmakers in mid-October that the government was working with the European Commission and engaging in diplomatic efforts, while supporting the companies’ legal actions to oppose U.S. sanctions.

EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic addressed reporters in Rome last month, stressing the lack of evidence backing the U.S. decision and calling the combined 107% levy “unacceptable.”

Margherita Mastromauro, president of the pasta makers sector of Unione Italiana Food, told The Associated Press that prices for Italian pasta in the U.S. remain high, and certainly higher than American-made rivals — undermining any dumping claim.

She said that the measures could deal a fatal blow to small- and medium-sized producers. Lucio Miranda, president of consultancy group Export USA, agreed.

“A duty rate of 107% would definitely kill this flow of export,” Miranda, who is Italian, said by phone from New York. “It’s not going to be something that you can just dump on the consumer and move on, life continues. It will definitely be a deal killer.”

The Commerce Department’s investigation started in 2024 after complaints from Missouri-based 8th Avenue Food & Provisions, which owns pasta brand Ronzoni, and Illinois-based Winland Foods, whose multiple brands include Prince, Mueller’s and Wacky Mac.

The office’s review focused on La Molisana and Garofalo, chosen as primary respondents because they are Italy’s two largest exporters, the Commerce Department said in an emailed statement. Any sale price below either producers’ costs or the price they charge in the Italian market would be considered dumping, in line with numerous other reviews of Italian pasta since 1996, it said.

The two companies presented information incorrectly or withheld it, significantly impeding analysis, according to the Commerce Department. And in the face of these alleged deficiencies, the office presented its 92% duty estimate, which it extended to 11 other companies based on an assumption the two companies’ behavior was representative.

“After they screwed up their initial responses, the Commerce Department explained to them what the problems were and asked them to fix those problems; they didn’t,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in an emailed response to the AP's questions. “And then Commerce communicated the requirements again, and they didn’t answer for a third time.”

La Molisana declined to comment when contacted by the AP. Garofalo didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The sanctions would be applied not just to imports going forward, but also the 12 months through June 2024, according to the Commerce Department. It added that only 16% of total Italian pasta imports may be affected. Its final decision is scheduled for Jan. 2, which could be extended by 60 days.

A little over an hour’s drive northeast from Naples is Benevento, a sleepy hilltop town of 55,000 people famed for its ancient Roman theater and Aglianico red wine. It’s also home to Pasta Rummo, founded in 1846, which prides itself on its seven-phase, “slow work” production method.

CEO Cosimo Rummo is outraged by the threat to his company’s annual 20 million euros in exports to the U.S.

“These tariffs are completely senseless,” Rummo said in a phone interview. “These are fast-moving consumer goods … Who would ever buy a pack of pasta that costs 10 dollars, the same price as a bottle of wine?”

He added that he has no intention to start producing pasta stateside, as some companies have done and so would be spared the prospective levy. That includes Barilla, which for decades has been the main Italian pasta brand in the U.S. and now has large-scale production facilities there.

When the transatlantic imbroglio started simmering, Robert Tramonte of Arlington, Virginia sought assurances. The owner of The Italian Store called his supplier, who told him there’s enough pasta inventory stocked in the warehouse to keep prices steady until Easter.

Tramonte’s clients count on him for top-shelf product and he was relieved that, at least for the time being, they won’t have to shell out for the real deal. Or worse -- perish the thought! -- purchase made-in-America pasta.

“They’ve tried to make Italian products and use the same ingredients, but the source wasn’t Italy,” he said. “And they just didn’t taste the same.”

Zampano reported from Rome and Wiseman from Washington. Associated Press videojournalists Paolo Santalucia in Rome and Tassanee Vejpongsa in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

Boxes of imported Italian pasta are seen on shelves, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Packages of imported Italian pasta sit on shelves Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)