Georgian opposition leader dragged from party offices by police

A Georgian opposition leader has been dragged from his party office by police and others have been physically attacked, after the prime minister vowed that organisers of a week of pro-EU protests, which he called "violent actions", would face justice.

Nika Gvaramia, 48, a leader from one of four opposition groups, was carried by his arms and legs by police from his party HQ in a side street next to parliament in the capital Tbilisi.

Other leaders were later ambushed after they met at a hotel and decided to push for a general strike.

Nightly demonstrations have been held since last Thursday, after ruling party Georgian Dream said it was halting the country's bid to start talks on joining the EU.

More than 330 protesters have been arrested and rights groups say many have been beaten in detention, however authorities started going after opposition leaders after a strident briefing from Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze.

"Politicians who organised violence but hid in offices will not be able to evade responsibility for the events that have unfolded over the past days," he warned, accusing protesters of spreading "liberal fascism".

Protests had initially erupted late in October after a contested election that monitoring groups said was marred by a string of violations.

But they burst into life last Thursday when Kobakhidze's increasingly authoritarian Georgian Dream party said it was suspending the country's bid to start talks on joining the EU. Two days later, the US suspended Georgia's long-sought strategic partnership.

Georgian Dream has enacted increasingly authoritarian laws targeting civil society and LGBT groups as well as freedom of speech, and opposition parties accuse the party of moving Georgia back into the sphere of influence of neighbour Russia.

Gvaramia, 46, was taken initially to a detention centre of the outskirts of Tbilisi where many of the 300 detained protesters have been held, and then on to another detention centre in Marneuli, south of the capital, reports say.

The former head of an opposition TV channel, Gvaramia spent 13 months in jail for abuse of authority, but he was pardoned in June 2023 by pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili.

Amnesty International said at the time the charges against him were groundless and politically motivated.

Georgian Dream has been stung by a series of resignations, including ambassadors to the US, Czech Republic, the Netherlands and other countries. The deputy foreign minister has also stepped down, but so far they have steered clear of speaking publicly.

Tea Maisuradze posted on X that it had been honour to serve Georgia's interests, "fostering European and Euro-Atlantic integration" and she made clear she remained committed to Georgia's future as part of the European Union.

Late on Wednesday night, Irakli Shaishmelashvili, who headed a unit in the interior ministry's special tasks department, and was therefore heavily involved in forcing the dispersal of protests, stepped down from his job citing family reasons.

The only other reason he gave came from two emojis - a Georgian and an EU flag.