ReutersFormer Georgian Prime Minister and opposition party leader Giorgia Gakharia was treated in hospital after being attacked in a hotel, reportedly by members of the ruling Georgian Dream party.
Gakharia is said to have suffered a broken nose in the incident in Batumi on the Black Sea coast. His party said it was “politically motivated” and aimed at intimidating the opposition.
The South Caucasus state has witnessed political unrest and repeated attacks on opposition figures and protesters in the months following disputed elections in Georgia in late October.
Protests have been held every night since the leaders of the Georgian Dream party announced a month later that they had frozen the issue of starting talks to join the European Union.
Hundreds of companies participated in a three-hour strike on Wednesday, the 49th consecutive day of protests.
Video of the incident, which occurred late Tuesday night in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in Batumi, was grainy, although Gakharia could be seen being forced to the ground by a group of men. Pictures later showed him with blood on his shirt.
Giorgia Gakharia posted on social media on Wednesday morning, saying: “In terms of health, I am fine,” but the doctor who treated him said that he had broken his nose bone and suffered a concussion.
European Commission spokeswoman Anita Heber said the “alleged involvement of Georgian Dream politicians in the brutal attack” was shocking. There is no place for violence or impunity in any democracy.
However, the characters of the Georgian Dream accused Gakharia of starting the clash himself. MP Levan Machavariani told reporters that everything was clear from the footage, while Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said the opposition's agenda was built on lies and deception.
A Georgian Dream MP and other party members have been linked to the assault, which occurred shortly after Zviad Kuridze, a journalist and regional head of anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, was attacked.
Kuridze was visiting Batumi to cover the trial of a prominent media figure, Mzia Amagloubili, founder of the independent websites Netgazeti and Batumelebi.
An order was issued for her pretrial detention in the coastal city overlooking the Black Sea on Tuesday, two days after she was arrested during a heated altercation with a policeman in which she was accused of slapping the officer. A photographer was also arrested.
The UK Ambassador to Georgia, Gareth Ward, said that the developments in the political crisis in recent days were “deeply worrying.” He added, “The renewed violence against opposition politicians and the arbitrary arrest of journalists and demonstrators is unacceptable.”
Gakharia was not the first opposition leader to face violence in recent weeks. Nika Gvaramia, who heads the Alliance for Change, fell unconscious when he was arrested in the capital, Tbilisi, last month.
Dozens of Georgian journalists and demonstrators were also attacked and injured by pro-government thugs during the overnight protests.
The European Union and the United States have accused the Georgian Dream of retreating from democracy, and opposition groups accuse the party and its billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili of seeking to achieve Russia's interests, while the vast majority of Georgians want to join the European Union.
Giorgi Gakharia was previously a prominent member of the Georgian Dream party until 2021 where he served as Minister of Interior and then Prime Minister, before creating his own opposition party For Georgia.
In a statement, Levan Ioseliani, Ombudsman of Georgia, condemned the attacks on both Gakharia and Zviad Kuridze. He called for an immediate response “so as not to incite attacks on politicians and journalists.”
Gakharia's party was one of four opposition groups that won seats in the October elections, but all of them refused to take their seats, accusing the ruling party of rigging the vote.
The European Parliament called for a rerun of the elections, describing them as neither free nor fair, and European Union Foreign Policy Coordinator Kaja Kallas accused the government of using repression against the opposition.
