Georgia police raid opposition offices as PM vows to curb protests

Thousands of pro-EU protesters rallied Wednesday in Georgia for a seventh consecutive night, after police raided opposition party offices and made arrests, following the prime minister’s threat to punish opponents.

Tbilisi has been rocked by turmoil since the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in an October 26 parliamentary election denounced by opposition groups as rigged. Tens of thousands have taken to the streets to protest the alleged fraud.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s announcement last Thursday that Georgia would not hold EU membership talks until 2028 sparked uproar and a fresh wave of rallies.

Around 300 people have been detained and dozens, including protestors and police, injured in clashes outside the parliament building in central Tbilisi.

Several thousand protesters, many wrapped in EU and Georgian flags, gathered outside the Georgian parliament Wednesday evening, an AFP reporter saw.

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“We are on the right side of history,” read one banner, as the crowd sang the Georgian national anthem amid a heavy police presence.

As on previous nights, some demonstrators banged on the metal barriers blocking the parliament’s entrance, and aimed green lasers to dazzle police officers lined up in front of the building.

Many came equipped with diving goggles or surgical masks to protect themselves from the tear gas heavily used by police during previous clashes.

Eka Moniava, a 50-year-old artist, said the protest movement was at a pivotal moment, and “people are getting angrier and angrier”.

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Hours before the protest, police arrested seven people for “organising and leading group violence” at pro-EU protests in Tbilisi after searches of opposition party offices and activists’ homes.

The ministry said in a statement that the suspects, identified only by initials and dates of birth, could face up to nine years’ imprisonment if convicted for “violent actions” during the mass protests held nightly since last Thursday.

Opposition leader Nika Gvaramia, of the Akhali party, was beaten and arrested during a police raid of the offices of another opposition party, Droa.

Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Kobakhidze vowed to crack down on what he called “radical” political forces responsible for organising the protests.

“It is clear to everyone that these violent actions are entirely coordinated by the radical opposition… No one will escape accountability, including the politicians hiding in their offices,” he said.

‘Trumped-up charges’

Droa leader Elene Khoshtaria said on X: “They are now in our party office, searching. Likely hoping to find something to charge some of our members with trumped-up charges.”

Police said they also raided offices of the Youth Organisation of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party.

UNM in a statement accused the Georgian government of launching “all-out terror and repressions against opponents”.

Over six consecutive nights of protest, demonstrators have hurled fireworks at riot police, who have deployed water cannon and tear gas and charged protesters.

Thick grey fog from the tear gas canisters has blanketed Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue, with several of the rallies lasting until dawn.

At least 15 people were admitted to hospital after Tuesday’s night’s demonstrations, officials said Wednesday.

In the face of international condemnation of overuse of police force, Kobakhidze has refused to back down.

The state would take “all necessary measures” to quash the “revolution” being plotted by the pro-Western opposition, he said.

Several demonstrators, including journalists, have been hospitalised after being detained and, they allege, beaten by the security forces while in custody.

Rights ombudsman Levan Ioseliani has accused the police of using “torture” against those detained at the rallies.

‘Torture’

On Wednesday, ahead of the evening protests, pro-EU President Salome Zurabishvili accused Georgian Dream of closing “shops selling protective gas masks, protective goggles, and helmets, leaving peaceful protesters deprived of their elementary protection”.

Some protesters have come to the rallies equipped with gas masks.

Critics of the government have been enraged by what they say is its betrayal of Georgia’s bid for EU membership, which is enshrined in its constitution and supported by around 80 percent of the population.

Several ambassadors and a deputy foreign minister resigned over Georgian Dream’s decision to suspend EU accession talks for four years.

Pro-Russia slant

Georgian Dream is seeking to remove pro-EU leader Zurabishvili from power before the end of the year.

The dramatic showdown is the latest in two tumultuous years in the Caucasus nation, which borders Russia to the north.

Critics accuse Georgian Dream of moving closer to Moscow, despite strong anti-Russian sentiment across Georgian society.

Since 2022, Georgian Dream has advanced Russia-style legislation targeting civil society and independent media outlets, as well as curbing LGBTQ rights.

Moscow has appeared to back Georgian Dream during the protests, saying the authorities there were working to “stabilise” the situation.

Russia and Georgia have not had formal diplomatic relations since the two countries fought a brief war in 2008.

But foreign ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday that Moscow was open to developing closer ties with Tbilisi.