Georgia's opposition comes under attack as leader is dragged from HQ

A Georgian opposition leader has been dragged from his party office by police and others have been physically attacked, after the prime minister vowed that organisers of a week of pro-EU protests, which he called "violent actions", would face justice.

Nika Gvaramia, 48, a leader from one of four opposition groups, was carried by his arms and legs by police from his party HQ in a side street next to parliament in the capital Tbilisi.

Other leaders were later ambushed after they met at a hotel and decided to push for a general strike.

Nightly demonstrations have been held since last Thursday, after ruling party Georgian Dream said it was halting the country's bid to start talks on joining the EU.

More than 330 protesters have been arrested and rights groups say many have been beaten in detention, however authorities started going after opposition leaders after a strident 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, accusing protesters of spreading "liberal fascism".

Protests had initially erupted late in October after a contested election that monitoring groups said was marred by a string of violations.

But they burst into life last Thursday when Kobakhidze's increasingly authoritarian Georgian Dream party said it was suspending the country's bid to start talks on joining the EU. Two days later, the US suspended Georgia's long-sought strategic partnership.

Georgian Dream has enacted increasingly authoritarian laws targeting civil society and LGBT groups as well as freedom of speech, and opposition parties accuse the party of moving Georgia back into the sphere of influence of neighbour Russia.

Georgia's interior ministry says more than 100 officers have been hurt by fireworks, rocks and other projectiles, but the country's ombudsman for human rights has accused the police of exercising brutality and torture toward protesters.

In the early hours of Monday, Nika Gvaramia who is one of the leaders of Coalition for Change, told the BBC that the protesters had no other option but to take to the streets, because 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 HQ would soon be raided by Georgia's authorities, and that took place less than 36 hours later.

Other opposition leaders met for an hour during the evening in a hotel in Tbilisi's central Liberty Square, and decided to step up co-operation and push for a general strike in the wider general 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, said it was not a pleasant feeling, realising that more arrests could come: "You think you're prepared for this but you never are."

As they left the meeting, some leaders came under attack in Liberty Square and two were seen being detained by waiting police, including opposition figure and world champion wrestler Zurabi Datunashvili.

In all, the opposition said 11 members had been arrested, including a Strong Georgia leader Aleko Elisashvili and two colleagues. The United National Movement said five members from its youth office had been taken away too.

Authorities also raided the home of an activist from Daitove, a large anti-government Facebook group that helps detained protesters, and then moved to the home of its co-founder Nancy Woland. They also targeted activists from other movements.

Gvaramia was taken initially to a detention centre of the outskirts of Tbilisi where many of the 300 detained protesters have been held, and then on to another detention centre in Marneuli, south of the capital, reports say.

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

Amnesty International said at the time the charges against him were groundless and politically motivated.

Georgian Dream has been stung by a series of resignations, including ambassadors to the US, Czech Republic, the Netherlands and other countries. The deputy foreign minister has also stepped down, but so far they have steered clear of speaking publicly.

Tea Maisuradze posted on X that it had been honour to serve Georgia's interests, "fostering European and Euro-Atlantic integration" and she made clear she remained committed 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 heavily involved in forcing the dispersal of protests, stepped down from his job citing family reasons.

The only other reason he gave came from two emojis - a Georgian and an EU flag.