The leader of the For Georgia party, former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, has raised "reasonable suspicion" that the masked individuals involved in the crackdown on the ongoing protests are not employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs but rather represent various informal groups.
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“We have well-founded suspicion that the masked individuals, who are particularly brutal, are members of various informal groups and do not belong to the police units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Unfortunately, those wearing masks seem to be guaranteed impunity, allowing them to commit violence on such a scale. In addition to the violence, they engage in looting, taking personal belongings, phones, bags, etc., from the injured and beaten individuals. We urge the authorities to remove the masks from these perpetrators. The mask and the guarantee of impunity make them even more cruel,” said Giorgi Gakharia. In response to a follow-up question, he added that these informal groups are most likely hired employees of private security companies.
“We are monitoring these individuals through television video recordings - tracking their movements, equipment, clothing, and behavior. Just imagine, people are beaten with particular brutality even after being detained. Detained individuals are brutally assaulted to the point where they no longer have faces.
These are standard punitive measures carried out by these formations on the streets of Tbilisi at night, on Ivanishvili’s orders.
The number of people being beaten is already in the hundreds each night, with special brutality directed at their heads and faces,” Giorgi Gakharia noted.
According to Gakharia, members of his party, along with other demonstrators, were also beaten last night - two were taken to a medical facility, and two were found in a pre-trial detention center.
“What has been happening over the last five nights is complete lawlessness and violence with extreme brutality. This is destroying the police force. If the police do not have the moral and legal ability to maintain order on our streets, we will end up in total chaos, and this chaos will be the responsibility of the ruling government from start to finish,” said Giorgi Gakharia, who served as Minister of Internal Affairs from 2017 to 2019.
He called on the authorities to release all those who have been illegally detained, remove the masks of those involved in the crackdown on protesters, and immediately stop the violence against people expressing their opinions.
“When you have addressed all of this, announce a new election date,” Gakharia added.
On the night of December 2-3, as on previous nights, police forces used water cannons and large amounts of tear gas to disperse protests on Rustaveli Avenue and in its surrounding areas. Riot police brutally beat the demonstrators. According to the Ministry of Health, emergency medical teams transported 26 individuals from the protest to medical facilities, including 23 protesters and 3 employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
