Georgian police on Sunday arrested two opposition leaders during a protest against the ruling Georgian Dream party.
Tbilisi has seen daily protests since Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that his government would not seek the opening of EU membership talks for Georgia before 2028.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the “brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters, journalists and politicians” on Sunday “unacceptable.”
She wrote on social media that the “EU stands with the people of Georgia in their fight for freedom and democracy.”
What do we know about the arrests?
Police detained the leader of the liberal Akhali party, Nika Melia, and former Tbilisi mayor Gigi Ugulava, according to multiple news agency reports.
Russia’s Interfax news agency reported that Melia was later released on bail.
“At the police station, I was sitting on a chair in handcuffs and was kicked by a police officer,” Melia was cited by Interfax as saying.
During the protests on Sunday, thousands of people gathered outside a shopping complex north of the Georgian capital and briefly blocked a major road.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry warned protesters that blocking the road was a criminal offense.
In the first wave of protests in November, over 400 demonstrators were arrested, according to the Interior Ministry.
Opposition protests October election
Kobakhidze’s Georgian Dream claimed victory in October elections which opposition groups have alleged were stolen.
In December, Mikheil Kavelashvili was sworn in as Georgia’s new president after he was elected by a 300-person electoral college dominated by the Georgian Dream.
His predecessor, former President Salome Zourabichvili, said that Kavelashvili’s inauguration was fraudulent. Zourabichvili was once seen as a Georgian Dream loyalist but had increasingly been estranged from the party in recent years.
Georgia also saw widespread protests last year after Tbilisi passed a law allowing it to monitor NGOs and the media more easily.
Edited by: Kieran Burke
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