TBILISI — The US has urged the Georgian authorities to deal with protesters with dignity after a number of days of a brutal crackdown in Tbilisi and accusation of extreme use of power and even torture by riot police.
Early on December 4 safety forces once more used water cannons and tear gasoline to disperse protesters participating within the sixth consecutive night time of protests within the Georgian capital triggered by the ruling Georgian Dream get together’s introduced that it could halt accession talks with the European Union.
The U.S. Embassy to Georgia posted a laconic message on its Fb web page on December 4, studying solely three phrases: “Management with dignity?”
The U.S. message got here a day after a equally curt sentence advised the Georgian authorities “Do not blame others” in a put up on Fb, noting it was Georgian Dream that stopped the EU membership course of and the get together was in charge for a choice by Washington to halt a strategic partnership between the 2 international locations.
On December 4, demonstrators moved from the central Rustaveli Avenue to a close-by subway station after safety forces blocked their entry to the parliament constructing and arrested a number of protesters.
Later within the day, legislation enforcement authorities performed raids on the places of work of a number of Georgian opposition events. Workplaces focused embrace these of the United Nationwide Motion and the Coalition for Change.
Notably, Nika Gvaramia, founding father of the Mtavari tv community and chief of the opposition get together Akhali beneath the Coalition for Change, was detained by police close to the places of work of allied events Girchi — Extra Freedom and Droa following searches at these places.
Gvaramia’s lawyer, Dito Sadzaglishvili, mentioned on Georgian tv that in the course of the arrest the policemen hit him repeatedly within the abdomen, leading to Gvaramia dropping his breath for a couple of seconds.
Sadzaglishvili additionally mentioned that Gvaramia realized that he was arrested for petty hooliganism and failure to adjust to a police officer’s order by eavesdropping on the dialog of the police. These are generally used administrative offenses. Sadzaglishvili mentioned a listening to ought to happen inside 48 hours.
One other outstanding member of the Coalition for Change, activist Gela Khasaia, was additionally taken into custody in the course of the police operation.
The crackdown prolonged past get together places of work. Legislation enforcement entered the house of Ilia Glonti, administrator of the Fb platform Daitove. The platform is understood for facilitating the coordination of protest actions, the place organizers and contributors share logistical particulars and updates about rallies.
Regardless of the rising protests, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has refused to again down and threatened to punish political opponents, whom he accuses of being behind violence that has occurred on the protests.
Safety forces began dispersing demonstrators gathered in entrance of the parliament constructing after the Inside Ministry mentioned a few of them had insulted legislation enforcement officers and thrown varied blunt objects, fireworks, and inflammable gadgets of their course.
Three influential U.S. senators — U.S. Helsinki Fee Co-Chairman Ben Cardin (Democrat-Maryland), Roger Wicker (Republican- Mississippi), and John Cornyn (Republican-Texas) issued a joint assertion in help of the Georgian protesters and condemning the extreme use of violence by the federal government.
“The Georgian Dream’s transfer to desert European Union membership negotiations is a profound betrayal of the Georgian folks’s clear and overwhelming want to embrace European values and establishments,” the three senators mentioned of their assertion.
“This isn’t the conduct of a authorities dedicated to democratic reforms and pluralism however of an insecure regime dragging Georgia towards Russian-style autocracy. These actions flagrantly violate worldwide democratic norms and undermine the authentic aspirations of the Georgian folks,” the assertion mentioned, including, “We strongly condemn the violence unleashed in opposition to peaceable protesters – tear gasoline, rubber bullets, water cannons, beatings, and mass arrests don’t have any place on the streets of Tbilisi.”
Georgia’s ombudsman accused police of torturing pro-EU protesters.
Levan Ioseliani, whose position is to defend residents’ rights, mentioned he and his officers had met folks subjected to “the harshest therapy” by police.
“Generally, they’ve obtained severe accidents within the face, eye and head space, which virtually excludes even the likelihood that the police used the mandatory, proportional power in opposition to them each time,” he mentioned in an announcement.
Protesters have described to RFE/RL the brutality employed by safety forces in opposition to them.
“They had been hitting us within the head,” protester Salome Zandukeli mentioned, describing how she and a pal had been chased on the night time of December 2 by some 25 riot police right into a constructing in downtown Tbilisi earlier than taking refuge in a restaurant.
Activist Gia Jvarsheishvili advised RFE/RL that he was thrown to the bottom by charging officers and crushed earlier than being shoved right into a police van the place police pushed detainees to the ground and started stomping on them.
“Instantly, I used to be in insufferable ache and I noticed that I had been injured. I did not understand it then, however I had a damaged rib,” Jvarsheishvili mentioned.
Georgia’s pro-European president, Salome Zurabishvili, who has sided with the demnstrators, mentioned on X that lots of the arrested protesters had accidents to their heads and faces. Some folks had been subjected to systematic beatings between arrest and transportation to detention services, she added.
Georgia has been thrown into turmoil since parliamentary elections in October during which Georgian Dream secured 54 p.c of the vote. The opposition and Western governments argued that the ballot was marred by violations and Russian affect.
Kobakhidze has blamed the unrest on international “instructors” and tried to clarify the choice to halt EU accession talks by way of 2028 by saying Georgia is prepared for the talks, “however solely with dignity and justice and with out blackmail.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticized the crackdown on protesters and accused the nation’s leaders of “pushing the nation into apparent dependence on Russia.”
When the Georgian authorities receives reward from Moscow “it clearly reveals who they’re working for in Tbilisi and who the protests are being dispersed for,” Zelenskiy mentioned in his night tackle.
He added that Ukraine was working with European international locations on a response and he has “given the order to arrange acceptable sanctions resolutions.”
A majority of Georgians help EU membership, and efforts to affix the bloc are mandated within the Georgian Structure.
Georgia obtained EU candidate standing in December 2023 however relations with Brussels have soured in current months, starting with the adoption of a Russian-style “international agent” legislation, which critics say threatens media retailers and civil society teams. accusing them of “serving” exterior powers.