Georgian authorities have arrested a man suspected of running into anti-government protesters with a car, injuring three protesters. The suspect could face up to two years in prison if found guilty .
On Wednesday, the Interior Ministry told OC Media that the man was apprehended on Tuesday — three days after the incident.
The Interior Ministry said that he was being investigated for carrying out an act of violence against two or more people. The crime is punishable by a fine, community service, or up to two years in prison.
The incident happened at night near the presidential residence, where a group of people were holding a protest on a pedestrian crossing.
Footage recorded by one of the protesters shows the car moving through the protest at high speed, then turning around and leaving the scene. The police were also present on the spot.
Eyewitnesses on social media said the driver was deliberately trying to run into the protesters and that he did not obey the police’s instructions, having driven the car towards an officer and l running him ‘off the road’.
Two injured individuals, Mariam Mekantsishvili and Lizi Ubilava, were taken to a clinic by ambulance. Mekantsishvili was diagnosed with a fractured rib.
‘Everything is fine, nothing serious’, Mekantsishvili later wrote on social media, noting that she had been prescribed 10 days of bed rest.
News of the unidentified suspect’s arrest was only reported days after the incident.
Immediately following the incident, Mekantsishvili’s lawyer, Lasha Tkesheladze, expressed suspicion that the driver of the car could be connected to the police, adding that ‘if the police weren’t protecting [the driver], that person would already have been arrested’.
The lawyer told OC Media that his client was discharged from the clinic without ever being questioned by the police. According to Tkesheladze, the police only contacted Mekantsishvili on Monday morning to summon her for questioning.
For over six months, anti-government protests have been taking place in Tbilisi, following Georgian Dream’s decision to halt the country’s EU membership bid.
Daily rallies are held in front of the Parliament building, though demonstrations are also taking place at other locations.
In recent weeks, groups of protesters have been holding gatherings at pedestrian crossings, carrying portraits of demonstrators who were arrested during the protests.
Two weeks earlier, on 7 June, a photographer covering one of the pedestrian crossing protests reported that a bus driver, who had previously shown aggression toward the demonstrators, sideswiped him with the bus while leaving the area. He also released a video of the incident.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
