Georgian Opposition Leader Forcibly Removed from Office Amid Post-Protest Crackdown

A Georgian opposition leader was forcibly removed from his party office by police, and other opposition figures were physically assaulted. This action followed the prime minister’s pledge that organizers of a week of pro-EU demonstrations, which he described as “violent actions,” would face legal consequences. Nika Gvaramia, 48, a leader from one of four opposition groups, was carried by police, holding him by his arms and legs, from his party headquarters located on a side street adjacent to parliament in the capital city of Tbilisi. Subsequently, other leaders were ambushed after they had gathered at a hotel and decided to advocate for a general strike. Nightly demonstrations have been ongoing since last Thursday, initiated after the ruling Georgian Dream party announced its decision to halt the country’s efforts to begin negotiations for joining the EU. More than 330 protesters have been arrested, and human rights organizations report that many have been beaten while in detention. However, authorities began targeting opposition leaders specifically after a forceful briefing from Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze. “Politicians who organised violence but hid in offices will not be able to evade responsibility for the events that have unfolded over the past days,” he warned, further accusing protesters of disseminating “liberal fascism.” Protests had initially erupted in late October following a contested election that monitoring groups stated was marred by a series of violations. Yet, they intensified significantly last Thursday when Kobakhidze’s increasingly authoritarian Georgian Dream party declared it was suspending the country’s bid to commence talks on EU accession. Two days later, the United States suspended its long-standing strategic partnership with Georgia. The Georgian Dream party has enacted progressively authoritarian laws targeting civil society and LGBT groups, as well as freedom of speech. Opposition parties accuse the party of steering Georgia back into the sphere of influence of its neighbor, Russia. Georgia’s interior ministry reports that over 100 officers have sustained injuries from fireworks, rocks, and other projectiles. Conversely, the country’s ombudsman for human rights has accused the police of employing brutality and torture against protesters. In the early hours of Monday, Nika Gvaramia, a prominent leader of Coalition for Change, informed the BBC that protesters had no alternative but to take to the streets, stating that the alternative was the elimination of their country, “not just in Russia’s zone of influence but some kind of puppet territory.” He also predicted that his party headquarters would soon be raided by Georgian authorities, a prediction that materialized less than 36 hours later. Other opposition leaders convened for an hour during the evening at a hotel in Tbilisi’s central Liberty Square. They resolved to enhance cooperation and push for a general strike among the wider public. “It’s a total campaign of terror against free speech, against freedom of opinion, against democracy,” Levan Tsutskiridze of Strong Georgia told the BBC. Another leader of Coalition for Change, Zurab Girchi Japaridze, described the unsettling feeling of realizing that more arrests could occur: “You think you’re prepared for this but you never are.” As they departed the meeting, some leaders came under attack in Liberty Square, and two were observed being detained by waiting police, including opposition figure and world champion wrestler Zurabi Datunashvili. In total, the opposition reported that 11 members had been arrested, including Strong Georgia leader Aleko Elisashvili and two colleagues. The United National Movement stated that five members from its youth office had also been taken into custody. Authorities also raided the home of an activist from Daitove, a large anti-government Facebook group that assists detained protesters, and subsequently moved to the home of its co-founder, Nancy Woland. Activists from other movements were also targeted. Gvaramia was initially transported to a detention center on the outskirts of Tbilisi, where many of the 300 detained protesters have been held, and subsequently moved to another detention center in Marneuli, south of the capital, according to reports. Gvaramia, a former head of an opposition TV channel, had previously spent 13 months in jail for abuse of authority, but he was pardoned in June 2023 by pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili. Amnesty International had stated at the time that the charges against him were groundless and politically motivated. The Georgian Dream party has been affected by a series of resignations, including ambassadors to the US, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and other countries. The deputy foreign minister has also stepped down, but these individuals have so far refrained from speaking publicly. Tea Maisuradze, one of the officials who resigned, posted on X that it had been an honor to serve Georgia’s interests, “fostering European and Euro-Atlantic integration,” and she affirmed her continued commitment to Georgia’s future as part of the European Union. Late on Wednesday night, Irakli Shaishmelashvili, who headed a unit in the interior ministry’s special tasks department and was therefore significantly involved in the forced dispersal of protests, resigned from his position, citing family reasons. The only other reason he provided for his departure was conveyed through two emojis: a Georgian flag and an EU flag.