Nika Gvaramia, co-chair of the Ahali party and one of the leaders of the Georgian pro-Western opposition bloc Coalition for Change (C4C), was violently detained outside his party’s offices in Tbilisi around 5pm on December 4.

The arrest follows a series of police raids on pro-Western opposition offices within the past hours. 

According to a Facebook livestream shared by Gvaramia, around 4pm masked police entered the C4C main offices at Besiki Business Centre in central Tbilisi. After Gvaramia demanded to see a search warrant, the officers left the building, offering no explanation.

Around the same time, Helen Koshtaria, a leader of the Droa opposition party, also part of the C4C bloc, tweeted that police were currently searching the Droa party offices. 

The pro-opposition Mtavari Arkhi TV outlet additionally reported that police had entered the youth movement offices of the Unity National Movement party, of the UNM-Unity coalition, another of Georgia’s major pro-Western opposition groups.

Gvaramia was allegedly violently detained as he was attempting to ask the masked officers about their reasoning for raiding the Droa party offices. Footage posted on X by the local Formula News outlet shows a large group of masked police bearing down on the opposition leader, appearing to be beating him, before picking him up by the arms and legs and depositing him in an unmarked black Toyota. He is reported to have been unconscious.

Gela Khasaia, another member of the C4C group, was also detained near the office minutes after Gvaramia’s detention. 

Following these arrests, reports came in around 5:40pm from Saba Buadze, chair of the Lelo opposition party and one of the leaders of the Strong Georgia Coalition, that two of his party members, Vepkhia Kasradze and Vaso Kadzelishvili, had been detained by police, allegedly following allegations from the pro-government channel TV Imedia that the two had discussed “violent” plans during a recent protest in Tbilisi.

Nightly pro-European demonstrations on Rustaveli Avenue in central Tbilisi began on the evening of November 28, following an announcement by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze that Georgia would be suspending its EU membership process until 2028. 

Violent measures including tear gas, water canons and brute force have been deployed by riot police to forcibly disperse demonstrators, nearly 300 of whom have been detained during and in the aftermath of the protests, which will commence for their seventh night tonight. 

Kobakhidze has accused Georgia’s “foreign funded” opposition of “inciting violence” during the protests, stating they would bear “full responsibility” for their actions. 

In the run up to Georgia’s October 26 parliamentary elections, GD vowed to ban all opposition parties, which it claims are “in reality, all one political force – UNM”, if it won a majority. It now appears this was not an empty threat, and government authorities have begun to target opposition figures and activists.

Earlier in the day on December 4, police searched the homes of two founding members of the self-organised activist group and Facebook community Daitove. The group has over 200,000 Facebook members and played an important organisational role during the large-scale “foreign agent” law protests in the spring, including organising transport and accommodation for those travelling into Tbilisi to participate in rallies.

Ilia Ghlonti, the group’s co-founder, reported that police removed all electronic equipment, including his personal mobile phone and laptop, from his house. Officers explained to Ghlonti that the investigation had been initiated based on articles of the criminal code related to group violence and incitement to disorder.

Nancy Woland, another Daitove co-founder, also had her house searched.

The anti-government group Dapioni reported that its founder, Zviad Tsetskhladze, had also been detained.