A British national who identifies himself as Daniel Travis is being held in police custody in the western Georgian city of Senaki, reliable sources have informed bne IntelliNews. 

Travis was arrested by the Georgian police on November 30 during the third night of fierce, ongoing protests in Tbilisi. Though they did not provide any evidence, the Georgian authorities claim the 28-year-old Liverpudlian broke into the parliament building on Rustaveli Avenue, which has been the hotspot of nightly pro-European protests since November 28, when the Georgian government announced the country would be suspending its EU accession process until 2028.

“I’m just passing [through]. I just want to go home,” Travis said in an interview aired by the pro-government television channel Imedi TV after his arrest.

Following his detention, the Briton was sentenced to 10 days jail time. The British Foreign Office have confirmed contact with local authorities over his arrest.

It is unclear why Travis is now being held in Senaki, which is over 260km from the Georgian capital. 

Officials from the ruling Georgian Dream party have suggested the Brit is a “foreign ex-military instructor” who had been instigating violence aimed at toppling the Georgian Dream (GD) government. 

On December 2, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze claimed that Georgia may be facing a “foreign funded revolution”. 

“There was a British citizen who illegally entered the parliament building. We may be dealing with foreign instructors organising violent gangs,” said Kobakhidze at a briefing on December 2. 

“What did the British instructor want, why did he break into the parliament building, on whose orders did this person act, all this needs to be investigated,” the PM continued.

According to a woman from who Travis was renting a flat in Tbilisi, the Liverpudlian had told her he was an English teacher. She described him as an untidy drunk that she had had to evict from her property after a month, adding that the Georgian authorities would be mad to suggest that Travis was capable of orchestrating any sort of violence.

The Briton’s LinkedIn page shows that he has worked in the hospitality industry for the last eight years or so, after leaving college in Liverpool in 2015.

According to a report by the Daily Express, Khatia Dekanoidze, a member of the UNM opposition party, has said Travis is being used by the ruling party as a “propaganda pawn”. “Nobody was breaking into the parliament — this was propaganda … I am [at the parliament], you know, all the time, every day and night, and believe me, nobody was breaking in,” the Mail reported the opposition politician as saying.

Georgia’s pro-Western opposition and president condemn the newly elected GD government as illegitimate and unconstitutional, following allegations of rigging in the country’s parliamentary vote in October. GD’s alleged usurping of power, along with its decision to backtrack on Georgia’s EU membership bid, has caused hundreds of thousands of people to take to the streets across Georgia.

Riot police have cracked down on protesters in Tbilisi with physical violence, water cannons, tear gas and arrests. December 4 was the seventh night of massive anti-government protests. Despite the police brutality, close to 100 hospitalisations and nearly 300 arrests, the momentum appears to be growing.