Opposition leader in Georgia arrested as pro-EU protests continue

The leader of Georgia’s main opposition party has been detained by police in the capital Tbilisi after being knocked to the ground and falling unconscious, his party said, the most high-profile in a sweeping wave of arrests of senior opposition figures.

Georgia on Wednesday saw a seventh consecutive night of protests against a government decision to suspend talks on the country joining the European Union, abruptly halting a long-standing national goal and prompting a police crackdown.

The opposition Coalition for Change party published a video on X showing Nika Gvaramia, the party’s leader, being carried by the arms and legs by several men down some steps.

The party said that Gvaramia, a 48-year-old media manager-turned politician, had been “thrown into a detention car as he was physically assaulted and unconscious”.

Reuters could not independently verify whether Gvaramia had been beaten or not, but he did not appear to be moving as he was carried down the steps in the video released by his party.

Police also detained Aleko Elisashvili, a leader of the Strong Georgia opposition party, as well as a leader of the youth protest movement Dafioni, and at least six other members of opposition political parties.

The detentions came as thousands of pro-EU protesters gathered, facing off against a large deployment of riot police who have used water cannon and gas to break up previous gatherings.

Local media cited the country’s interior ministry as saying seven people had been arrested on charges of “organising and leading group violence”, an offence which carries up to nine years in prison.

The ministry said it had searched the houses of six people, and seized items including air rifles, fireworks and Molotov cocktails.

A senior official in the interior ministry department that oversees the riot police published a letter of resignation due to “family circumstances” on Facebook, along with EU and Georgian flag emojis.

Georgian officials have repeatedly accused opposition protesters of plotting a revolution along the lines of Ukraine’s 2014 Maidan protests, which ousted a pro-Russian president.

Asked at a press conference about claims authorities were repressing the opposition, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said: “I would not call it repression, it is more prevention.”

He said, without providing evidence, that opposition forces had been supplying protesters with fireworks, which they have hurled at police during demonstrations.

“People were systematically supplied with pyrotechnics and other means by the relevant political forces,” Kobakhidze said.

The government’s decision to suspend EU talks has plunged the South Caucasus country of 3.7 million people into political crisis and the authorities claim to have thwarted an attempted revolution.

Critics accuse the government of turning its back on the West and steering an increasingly authoritarian and pro-Russian course, which the ruling party denies.

Salome Zourabichvili, the country’s pro-EU president who has become a voice of the protest movement, wrote on X on Wednesday:

“My urgent call to our partners and those who want to prevent (the) crisis to go deeper…, it is time to put strong pressure on a ruling party that is driving the country over the cliff! Do not be late… !”

A spokeswoman for Coalition for Change said on X that several other party members had been detained alongside Gvaramia.

Kobakhidze, the prime minister, has repeatedly praised the police for their response to the protests.

Georgia’s public ombudsman, a former opposition politician, accused the police on Tuesday of harshly mistreating people detained during demonstrations, saying their treatment amounted to torture.

The EU’s foreign affairs spokesperson Anitta Hipper wrote on X: “We urge authorities to stop using excessive force and ensure freedom of assembly. All acts of violence must be investigated immediately.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday said the Georgian government’s actions were “shameful,” and aimed at making the country dependent on Russia.

Georgia’s government has repeatedly sparred with Ukraine since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, accusing Georgian fighters based in Ukraine of plotting its overthrow.