TBILISI, Georgia — A third night of protests in the Georgian capital against the government’s decision to suspend negotiations to join the European Union left 44 people hospitalized, officials said Sunday.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the parliament Saturday night, throwing stones and setting off fireworks, while police deployed water cannons and tear gas. An effigy of the founder of the governing Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili — a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia — was burned in front of the legislature.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze warned that “any violation of the law will be met with the full rigor of the law.”

He insisted it wasn’t true that Georgia’s European integration had been halted. “The only thing we have rejected is the shameful and offensive blackmail,” he said.

The government’s announcement came hours after the European Parliament adopted a resolution criticizing last month’s general election in Georgia as neither free nor fair.

— The Associated Press