Gangs of unidentified masked men dressed in black were out on the streets in the Rustaveli Avenue area of Tbilisi on the night of December 7, as thousands of anti-government, pro-EU demonstrators gathered for a tenth consecutive night of protests outside the Georgian parliament building.

A number of Georgian citizens, as well as several opposition journalists and an opposition leader, were subject to violent attacks by large groups of these individuals, commonly referred to as 'titushky', Ukrainian slang for plainclothes security forces hired by governments to attack critics, meaning regular law enforcers can avoid accountability.

As bne IntelliNews reported following the violent dispersal of protesters on the night of December 6, the presence of 'titushky' on the streets, along with new tactics being employed by government authorities, marks a steep escalation in repressive measures being taken by the ruling party.

Journalists and government critics targeted

At around 9.30pm on the evening of December 7, the opposition aligned Pirveli TV channel reported that 'titushky' groups had attacked two demonstrators on side streets off Rustaveli Avenue.    

According to Pirveli, a 19-year-old man was transported to hospital in an ambulance, while the other individual sustained serious facial injuries. Both victims told media that they were attacked by a group of up to 30 'titushky'.

Shortly after, the Pirveli channel’s TV crew were attacked by masked 'titushky' during a live broadcast on Besiki street. The journalists had come to investigate the attacks on the two demonstrators which had taken place nearby.

A man dressed in black wearing a clown mask grabbed TV Pirveli reporter Maka Chikhladze from behind, roughly covering her face and throwing her forcefully to the ground whilst she was live on air. Following this assault the broadcast was cut off.

Videos that followed on social media showed the TV Pirveli camera operator, Giorgi Shetsiruli, being attacked by at least four masked individuals, who stomped on his head and kicked him repeatedly as he lay face down on the ground covering his face with his arms. Both he and Chikhladze sustained visible head injuries and their equipment stolen by the individuals who assaulted them.

Following the attacks, the Georgian public defender, Levan Ioseliani spoke live on TV Pirveli, calling on regular police to “take immediate action and ensure the safety of citizens near Rustaveli Avenue”. 

This followed reports from witnesses on the scene that police patrols made no attempt to intervene during the 'titushky' attacks, despite being in the vicinity and being aware of the assaults taking place. 

This suggests that while 'titushky', like patrol police, special forces and riot police, appear to be working in the interests of the ruling Georgian Dream, they are in some way above the law, enjoying a degree of, or perhaps total, impunity.

Ioseliani warned that the authorities’ failure to react to organised street attacks by 'titushky' on journalists and demonstrators could “lead to disaster”. “There is nothing beyond this by civil strife … We are at a very dangerous threshold,” the public defender told media.

Attacks by 'titushky' were also reported elsewhere in Tbilisi on the night of December 7-8. In the Mtatsminda district, actor Giorgi Makharadze was reportedly beaten repeatedly by a group of 30 individuals carrying bats. According to the victim, the police that witnessed the attack did nothing to prevent it.

A video on the Instagram account of local outlet Formula News showed Makharadze confronting a regular policeman over why the latter did not intervene as he was being assaulted. “You were watching how 30 men were beating me with a baton, you were watching,” the victim told the officer.

At around 10pm, the offices of the pro-Western Coalition for Change opposition bloc were broken into and at least two of its members attacked. CCTV footage from the office entrance shows Koba Khabazi was ambushed by at least 50 masked individuals as he exited the building. He was then pulled down the stairs and beaten on the ground. He sustained serious head injuries. Local media reports that a fellow C4C member, Data Petridis, also suffered an assault by 'titushky'. 

Writing on Facebook shortly after the attacks on the TV Pirveli crew and C4C opposition activists, Davit Zurabishvili, a former member of the Republican Party of Georgian, alleged that the individuals carrying out the attacks were predominantly composed of “former or current wrestlers and weightlifters, who are provided with masks, uniforms and paid by the authorities to beat protesters”. 

“The police are simply aware that they shouldn’t interfere with them, and that’s exactly what they do,” Zurabishvili added. 

Following the attacks, a group of protesters banded together, some carrying bats, and began to march through the area off Rustaveli where the 'titushky' were reported to be, seemingly looking to fight or at least confront the masked individuals. The demonstrators later returned to the main protest on Rustaveli Avenue.

The ruling party blame critics for attacks 

GD officials have denied responsibility for the incidents on the night of December 7, accusing critics of orchestrating the attacks on journalists and opposition figures so as to incite public anger and prompt more people to take to the streets in protest of the government.

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the leaders of the Georgian Dream party parliamentary majority declared the attack on the TV Pirveli crew “immoral”, while insisting that it was almost certainly a “deliberate provocation” by the opposition and anti-government activists in light of “waning momentum” at street protests.

“My subjective opinion is that those who need unrest, chaos, and new so-called “scenes” are likely behind this, but it requires an investigation,” Mdinaradze stated, insisting that the individuals involved in the attacks were “not police officers, special forces representatives or active members of our force”. 

The vice speaker of the Georgian parliament, Nino Tsilosani, also seemed to redirect accountability for the attacks away from the ruling party authorities and towards those willing to incite further civil unrest. 

“Only those who want to misdirect the protests and provoke violence, and whose fire this horror is fueling, would do this,” the vice speaker wrote on Facebook.

Despite these claims, demonstrators and critics seem convinced that 'titushky' are sponsored by GD to do the dirty work the ruling party does not want state authorities to have to take responsibility for.

Local anti-government activists have reported that the violent groups are allegedly part of a secret private security conglomerate overseen by the deputy head of the State Security Service, Levan Akhobadze.

Ban on face coverings

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze reiterated at a press briefing on December 8 that the ruling party intends to pass a law banning participants from wearing any form of face covering at protests. This announcement has sparked outrage among demonstrators as riot police have been consistently deploying tear gas and pepper spray infused water cannons against protest crowds on Rustaveli Avenue, meaning gas masks are essential to mitigate serious poisoning and long-term health issues.

Government critics have also highlighted the hypocrisy of this proposed legislation, pointing out that 'titushky' thugs and special forces offices, known colloquially as “men in black”, fully cover their faces to avoid identification.

Given that both 'titushky' and special forces officers are yet to be held accountable for any of the violence inflicted on hundreds of protestors, it seems unlikely they will be prosecuted for continuing to wear masks.