Georgian police detain two Georgian Dream supporters for assaulting protesters
Georgia’s Interior Ministry has arrested two men believed to be supporters of the ruling Georgian Dream party for assaulting protesters in Tbilisi during an anti-government protest.
The case relates to the clashes that broke out between pro-EU demonstrators and ruling party supporters outside Georgian Dream’s local elections HQ on Melikishvili Avenue in Tbilisi on Monday evening. Supporters of Georgian Dream repeatedly attacked protesters, including with bottles, stones, and in at least one case, a police baton, resulting in several injuries. Police who were on the scene attempted to separate the two groups, but did not make any arrests at the time.
On Wednesday evening, the Interior Ministry said they had arrested two people on charges of group violence, identifying them only by their initials and years of birth — Z. M., born in 1965, and I. B., born in 2003.
While the ministry did not specify to which camp the two belonged, opposition-aligned media have identified the two as Zaza Mamaladze and Irakli Buachidze.
During Monday’s attacks, OC Media filmed Mamaladze hitting a woman protester on her arm and making obscene gestures towards anti-government protesters. Buachidze was caught on video taking a police officer's baton and beating protesters with it. A separate video shows Buachidze begging a police officer to give him his handcuffs.
On Tuesday, the Interior Ministry announced that it launched several investigations into incidents of group violence during anti-government protests at the behest of Georgian Dream.
One investigation concerned acts of violence or threats of violence during the campaign for October’s local elections, while the other concerned acts of group violence.
The ministry did not specify whether it intended to target supporters of the ruling party or anti-government protesters in its statement, but urged citizens to ‘refrain from violence, incitement to violence, and other acts that undermine the pre-election environment’.
As protesters gathered on Melikishvili again on Tuesday evening, the pro-government TV station Imedi broadcast a seven-minute segment showing the names and faces of protesters it claimed were responsible for acts of ‘group violence’ during Monday’s protest.
The ministry had also announced a third investigation into protesters who graffitied posters of Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze with the inscription: ‘Russian Dream’.
A Georgian protester, 23-year-old Megi Diasamidze, was arrested on those charges on Wednesday, adding to the list of dozens of anti-government protesters arrested in daily demonstrations against the government’s decision to suspend Georgia’s EU membership bid in November 2024.
Xandie (Alexandra) Kuenning
