Two young Georgian men named as Rati Tkemaladze and Otar Kvaratskhelia were forced into an unmarked car by unidentified men near Tbilisi’s Rustaveli metro station on the night of January 18.

The two were returning home after attending a civil disobedience ‘anti-mask law’ rally near the Georgian parliament building, which took place on the 52^nd consecutive night of anti-government, pro-EU street protests in the Black Sea nation.

No police or police vehicles were present at the scene, and as of the morning of January 19, the whereabouts of the men are still unknown.

The kidnappings come amid a recent intensification of government hostilities and police repression against peaceful pro-EU protesters in Georgia as the ruling Georgian Dream party attempt to crush the ongoing wave of unrest.

The last week has seen the arrests of high-profile journalist Mzia Amaglobeli and pro-western oppositionists Helen Khoshtaria, violent attacks by GD MPs and “Titushky” thugs on opposition members Giorgi Gakharia, Saba Buadze and a regular Georgian citizen in Abu Dhabi, the detainment of dozens of protesters across the country and the issue of extortionate fines to individual demonstrators for pretty offences, namely the use of fireworks at protests.

Nightly demonstrations began in Tbilisi following an announcement by GD, accused by many in the Caucasus country and abroad of rigging the October 2024 parliamentary elections, that Georgia would be suspending its EU accession bid until 2028.

On January 18 protesters began to gather outside the Tbilisi State Concert Hall around 9pm, before marching down Rustaveli Avenue towards parliament. The demonstrators’ demands remain the same: the release of all those unlawfully arrested during the ongoing resistance movement, and a rerun of the October parliamentary elections under international supervision.

In addition to the Georgian and EU flags which typically blanket the crowd, many protesters donned masks, scarfs, and balaclavas – a deliberate show of defiance of GD’s recent law banning any form of face covering at demonstrations.

Many chanted "Fire to the Oligarchy" and covered their heads with balaclavas bearing the face of the billionaire GD founder and de-factor ruler of Georgia, Bidzina Ivanishvili, who has recently come under sanctions by the US and UK for undermining Georgian democracy and Euro-Atlantic aspirations and facilitating Russian influence in the country.

Earlier in the day, seven people were reportedly forcefully detained for wearing face masks during a protest march against police brutality from Sarajishvili metro in north Tbilisi to the police station in the Temka district.