Police Arrest October 4 Rally Organizers After Election-Day Unrest
Police have arrested five persons, including opposition figures and opera singer Paata Burchuladze, after the October 4 election day rally that they organized in Tbilisi escalated into unrest. They face up to nine years in prison.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the detainees include Burchuladze, a singer and activist, as well as opposition United National Movement party members Irakli Nadiradze and Murtaz Zodelava, Strategy Agmashenebeli party member Paata Manjgaladze, and retired colonel Lasha Beridze. All of them were members of a group organizing the election-day rally with the stated aim of “peacefully overthrowing” the Georgian Dream government.
They were detained on charges of calling for the violent overthrow of state authorities and attempting to change the constitutional order through violence, as well as organizing, leading, and participating in group violence.
“During the rally at Liberty Square, the organizers made calls of a violent nature. Similar calls had also been voiced prior to October 4,” GD Deputy Interior Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze said at a briefing early on October 5.
Zodelava and Nadiradze were detained in the early hours of October 5 at the parliament after the rally, while Burchuladze was taken in handcuffs from the Tbilisi hospital where he had been treated following the unrest. The arrests come after police earlier in the day launched an investigation into several criminal charges, including incitement to overthrow the government, and after Georgian Dream leaders warned of a strict response.
Tensions flared on the day of the partially boycotted municipal vote after Paata Burchuladze and other organizers addressed a parallel mass rally, dubbed a “national assembly”, declaring that power had reverted “to the Georgian people.” Following the announcement, Murtaz Zodelava urged a special group of “male force” to “take over the keys of the Presidential Palace as the first step.” His calls were followed by unrest, where some protesters attempted to storm the palace, while riot police confronted them with pepper spray, tear gas, and water cannons.
Clashes around the presidential palace and nearby Orbeliani Square continued late into the night, while larger crowds of protesters maintained a peaceful rally on Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Avenue, some three hundred meters from the epicenter of tensions. According to the Health Ministry, six protesters and 21 police officers were hospitalized, including one officer in serious condition.
Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze of the ruling Georgian Dream party described the events at the presidential palace as a “direct coup attempt,” vowing to hold those responsible accountable, while GD Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said “every person who was involved in this violent act will be held accountable.”
More to follow…
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