A number of Georgian citizens attending the pro-EU demonstration on Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue, as well as journalists covering the protests, have been violently attacked by groups of unidentified, masked individuals.

Reports of these groups, commonly referred to as ‘titushki’ — Ukrainian slang used to describe plainclothes security forces used to attack government critics — was first circulated on social media around 21:30. 

According to these reports, the groups of masked individuals based themselves on a number of side streets off of Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue, where pro-EU and anti-government demonstrations were held for the tenth  night. 

At around 21:30, opposition aligned TV Pirveli reported that ‘titushki’ had attacked two demonstrators, beating them on the ‘dark sidestreets’ of Rustaveli Avenue.

They stated that an ambulance was required to take a ‘severely beaten 19-year-old man’ to the hospital, while doctors remained at the scene to examine the other injured person, who they reported as having ‘serious facial injuries’.

Both of those injured told media that it was a group of up to 30 masked men which had attacked them.  

Shortly after, the crew of the TV channel Pirveli’s show ‘Nodar Meladzis Shabati’ (‘Nodar Meladze’s Saturday’) were attacked during a live broadcast as they covered the assaults by said masked individuals on demonstrators near Rustaveli Avenue. 

The attackers first deployed what reportedly appeared to be pepper spray in the direction of the crew. 

Then, one masked man violently grabbed Maka Chikhladze, TV Pirveli’s reporter, covering her face with his hand and throwing her to the ground before the crew went offline. 

Ckhiladze reported that the men asked ‘you bitch, what are you filming?’ during the assault. 

A video shared on social media appeared to show Giorgi Shetsiruli, TV Pirveli’s camera operator, also on the ground, covering his head as multiple masked people kicked him.

Both Chikhladze and Shetsiruli sustained visible head injuries. 

Following the attack, Georgian Public Defender Levan Ioseliani called on police ‘to take immediate action and ensure the safety of citizens’ near Rustaveli Avenue’.

The statement came after reports emerged that a police patrol stood inactive as the attack unfolded in their vicinity. According to TV Pirveli, police did not attend the scene even as groups of masked attackers were seen nearby. 

Speaking live on TV Pirveli, Ioseliani also warned of potential civil unrest if the authorities fail to address the organised attacks targeting government critics on the streets.

‘It’s outrageous [...] If people clash in the streets, it will lead to disaster, and there’s nothing beyond this but civil strife [...] We are at a very dangerous threshold’, Ioseliani said. 

Elsewhere in Tbilisi, a large group of masked individuals broke into the offices of the opposition group Coalition for Change. Once inside, they attacked two people, one of whom was Coalition for Change member Koba Khabazi, who received serious head injuries. 

In Tbilisi’s Mtatsminda district, Georgian actor Giorgi Makharadze was reportedly physically assaulted by around 30 individuals carrying batons. 

Makharadze told local media that during the 10 minutes the attackers were physically abusing him, police witnessed the accident, but did nothing.

Shortly after the attacks, Davit Zurabishvili, a former member of the Georgian Dream-led coalition from the Republican Party, alleged that the attacking gangs were ‘mostly’ composed of ‘former or current wrestlers and weightlifters, who are provided with masks, uniforms, and paid by the authorities to beat protesters.’

‘The police are simply aware that they shouldn’t interfere with them, and that’s exactly what they do’, he added. 

Early on Sunday, Vato Tsereteli, the founder and owner of TV Pirveli, announced a $25,000 reward for anyone who could provide information about the identities of the attackers on the TV crew.

‘I will unearth you and track you down!’, he threatened in a post on Facebook. 

Georgian Dream blames critics for attacks

Leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party, joined by their outspoken supporters, have condemned the incident while implying or accusing their critics of orchestrating the attacks in order to incite public outrage and fuel larger anti-government street protests.

The parliamentary leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Mamuka Mdinaradze, condemned the attack on TV Pirveli’s crew in Tbilisi, calling it ‘immoral’ while saying that that there was a ‘99% chance that this was a deliberate provocation amid the waning [street protest] momentum’.

Mdinaradze ruled out that the masked attackers were law enforcement officers or Georgian Dream supporters. 

‘My subjective opinion is that those who need unrest, chaos, and new so-called “scenes” are likely behind this, but it requires an investigation’, he added. 

Likewise, Vice Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Nino Tsilosani, posted on Facebook saying that ‘only those who want to misdirect the protests and provoke violence, and whose mill this horror is feeding, would do this’.

‘I hope that the investigation will share information about this act of violence with us in a timely manner and that the perpetrator will be given an appropriate answer’, she claimed.

Despite repeated criticism from international and local rights groups, as well as the Georgian Public Defender, the Interior Ministry has consistently deployed masked units lacking identifying markers against protesters.