Georgians risk serious injury and jail in new EU protests

More than 300 people have been arrested since mass protests broke out in Georgia six nights ago, and a growing number of accounts have already blamed violent attacks on police.

One man told the BBC how he was repeatedly kicked in the head, even after he was knocked unconscious. “When I opened my eyes for the third time, I couldn’t feel my legs or my hands – I couldn’t even move my head,” said Avandtil Kuchava, a 28-year-old businessman.

Protests have continued every night since last Thursday, after the ruling Georgian Dream party said it was halting the country’s bid to start EU accession talks.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze accused opposition politicians of causing the violence, blaming them for the injuries.

However, the police force has been described as abusive and brutal by the human rights ombudsman of Georgia, and has received criticism from the United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk, who said that the use of “unnecessary or disproportionate force … is deeply troubling”.

“Don’t blame others,” warned the American ambassador in Tbilisi in a direct message on social media aimed at Kobakhidze’s Georgia Dream government.

It reminded Georgians that it was the ruling party that stalled the EU process and then lost its relationship with the US two days later.

Georgia Dream has been in power for 12 years and has introduced increasingly powerful laws on civil rights, freedom of speech and LGBT rights.

For six nights running, tens of thousands of Georgians have taken to the streets, accusing the government of trying to destroy their path to a future in Europe and return them to Russia’s sphere of influence.

Armed riot police then tried to push them back with tear gas and water cannons.

Videos of protesters defying the police have gone viral.

One woman held up a Georgian flag while sipping water from a tap, while another walked towards a group of police officers standing behind riot barriers.

“You trash! I’m tired, so what do you want? Are you afraid of me?” The lady shouted defiantly, before being tied up in a sack and taken away.

The woman has been identified as Nana Tomaradze and is now being held at a pre-trial centre, her lawyer Lasha Tkeseladze told the BBC.

He is currently facing an administrative charge that could lead to five days in jail or a fine, which his lawyer says is the equivalent of two to three months’ salary.

“He has an 11-year-old son who has no one,” he said.

In another video, an old woman walks with a line of helmeted riot police, criticizing them for pitting Georgians against Georgians and protecting politicians from their palaces.

But the intensity of the police response has drawn comparisons with independent states, notably Russia and Belarus, and government critics say they are working from Russia’s playbook.

Some of the videos shared here are terrible.

A middle-aged man wearing an orange jacket was beaten and pushed to the ground as he tried to pass through a crowd of standing riot police.

The young man lying on the ground was kicked in the head several times as the woman begged them to stop.

Avtandil Kuchava faced the same fate of the police wearing unmarked black clothes and after two days in the hospital he is now recovering at home.

“There were four of them at first, but after I was taken out I don’t know how many people were hitting me. When I opened my eyes, someone’s foot appeared and looked at me and I blacked out for the second time.

“After I opened my eyes for the third time, someone broke my hand by hand. Then I blacked out, and the next time I came I was taken to the police station by car.”

The BBC has contacted Georgia’s ministry of internal affairs for comment but has so far not received a response. The Ministry says that 113 law enforcement officers have been injured since the protests began and the police have been attacked by explosives and other things.

Avtandil Kuchava says that an official investigation into his case has begun, but he has little hope of any result, even though there were many CCTV cameras in front of the Georgian parliament, where it happened.

Despite the attack early Saturday, Georgia lawyers said police continued to harass protesters.

The Legal Aid Network says most of those arrested on Monday were “brutally beaten”. Ombudsman Levan Ioseliani said that because most of the injuries were to the “face, eye and head”, that suggests that the police may have used violent methods as a means of punishment.

One 20-year-old man was hit in the eye by tear gas on Tuesday and was rushed to the hospital where he was admitted in a coma.

Georgia’s prime minister acknowledged violence on both sides, but blamed opposition groups and non-governmental organizations for inciting the protests and blamed members of “violent gangs” for the unrest.

Demonstrators returned to the courtyard outside the parliament again on Tuesday night, demanding the resumption of the election that was eagerly watched by monitoring groups that were marred by many violations of laws.

Nikolas, 30, was not deterred by the risk of arrest or injury: “Cases like that create more anger. It is impossible for us to back down now.”

Hopes of convincing the constitutional court to nullify the October 26 parliamentary elections were dashed on Tuesday when it dismissed the case against Georgia’s pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili and four opposition parties she has supported.

Meanwhile, it was also reported that some people were arrested outside the parliament on the sixth night of the protests.

Outside a center on the outskirts of Tbilisi where many of the detained protesters are being held, a group of activists held up placards of badly injured protesters while one of them chanted “freedom for prisoners” through a megaphone.

“We want the world to understand that this is not just a war for the people of Georgia, but a war between Russia and the West,” said one of the activists, Mari Kapadnadze.