Georgian opposition leader dragged from party offices by police

One of Georgia’s opposition leaders has been dragged from his get together places of work by police, after the prime minister vowed that the organisers of per week of pro-EU protests, which he referred to as “violent actions”, would face justice.

Nika Gvaramia, 48, a pacesetter from certainly one of 4 opposition teams, was carried away by his legs and arms by cops from his get together HQ in a facet avenue subsequent to parliament within the capital Tbilisi.

Demonstrations have been held each night time since final Thursday, after ruling get together Georgian Dream mentioned it was halting the nation’s bid to start out talks on becoming a member of the EU.

More than 330 protesters have been arrested and rights teams say many have been overwhelmed in detention.

However, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has develop into more and more strident in his condemnation of the protesters, accusing them of spreading “liberal fascism”.

Protests had initially erupted after a contested election that monitoring teams mentioned was marred by a string of violations.

But they burst into life final Thursday when Kobakhidze’s more and more authoritarian Georgian Dream get together mentioned it was suspending the nation’s bid to start out talks on becoming a member of the EU. Two days later, the US suspended Georgia’s long-sought strategic partnership.

Georgian Dream has enacted more and more authoritarian legal guidelines concentrating on civil society and LGBT teams in addition to freedom of speech, and opposition events accuse the get together of shifting Georgia again into the sphere of affect of neighbour Russia.

“Politicians that organised violence but hid in offices will not be able to evade responsibility for the events that have unfolded over the past days,” Kobakhidze mentioned in a briefing on Wednesday.

Georgia’s inside ministry says greater than 100 officers have been damage by fireworks, rocks and different projectiles, nevertheless the nation’s ombudsman for human rights has accused the police of exercising brutality and torture towards protesters.

In the early hours of Monday, Nika Gvaramia who is likely one of the leaders of Coalition for Change, advised the BBC that the protesters had no different choice however to take to the streets, as a result of the choice was the elimination of their nation, “not just in Russia’s zone of influence but some kind of puppet territory”.

He additionally predicted, precisely, that his get together HQ would quickly be raided by Georgia’s authorities.

Gvaramia’s get together was not the one group focused by authorities. Offices from different events in his Coalition for Change alliance have been raided and a member detained. The alliance got here second within the disputed 26 October election.

Meanwhile members of different opposition events, Strong Georgia and United National Movement, mentioned a number of of their members had been taken away.

Authorities raided the house of an activist from Daitove, a big anti-government Facebook group that helps detained protesters, after which moved to the house of its co-founder Nancy Woland. They additionally focused activists from different actions.

Gvaramia, 46, was taken initially to a detention centre of the outskirts of Tbilisi the place lots of the 300 detained protesters have been held, after which on to a different detention centre in Marneuli, south of the capital, stories say.

The former head of an opposition TV channel, Gvaramia spent 13 months in jail for abuse of authority, however he was pardoned in June 2023 by pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili.

Amnesty International mentioned on the time the fees in opposition to him have been groundless and politically motivated.