The leader of the Akhali party, Nika Gvaramia, was brutalized and then taken away by hooded police officers.
Georgian police beat and arrested an opposition leader on Wednesday December 3 during a raid on his party offices, in the midst of a wave of protests against power and threats of repression from the Prime Minister. The leader of the Akhali party, Nika Gvaramia, was brutalized and then taken away by hooded police officers, according to images broadcast live by the independent television channel Pirveli.
The previous six nights of mobilization, which brought together thousands of demonstrators near the Parliament in Tbilisi, were dispersed by the police with water cannons and tear gas, and nearly 300 people were arrested. On Wednesday, the authorities increased their pressure by searching the offices of the opposition Droa party. Hooded police officers brutalized then took away Nika Gvaramia, the leader of another allied party, Akhali, according to images broadcast live by the independent television channel Pirveli. In other images posted on Facebook by a Droa activist, Tata Khoundadzé, police officers, during this raid, seized bottles with a yellowish liquid, paint bombs and fireworks.
Georgia's main opposition party, the United National Movement (UNM) of imprisoned former President Mikhail Saakashvili, has accused the authorities of “launched a campaign of terror and all-out repression against opponents”. He reported searches targeting two other opposition parties and accused the police of confiscating phones and laptops, as well as blocking access to the MNU youth offices. “These violent raids aim to intimidate the population and repress the demonstrations”denounced this party in a press release.
-Water cannon versus fireworks
Demonstrations in Tbilisi, punctuated by violence, broke out last Thursday after the government announced the postponement until 2028 of the ambitions of this former Soviet republic in the Caucasus to join the EU. This choice ignited the powder in an already tense political climate. The ruling party, the Georgian Dream, is accused of pro-Russian authoritarian drift and the opposition claims that it rigged the legislative elections at the end of October. Its results have also been questioned by Western countries. Opposition elected officials refused to sit in the newly elected Parliament, denounced as “illegitimate” by protesters and experts. Since last week, tens of thousands of people carrying European and Georgian flags have taken to the streets of the capital Tbilisi, and other cities in this country nestled on the shores of the Black Sea.
