The leader of the Georgian opposition was beaten and blames the members of the government for it

Georgia’s former prime minister and opposition party leader Giorgi Gakharia is being treated in hospital after being attacked in a hotel, reportedly by members of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

Gakharia reportedly suffered a broken nose during the incident in Batumi on the Black Sea coast. His party called it “politically motivated” and aimed at intimidating the opposition.

The South Caucasian state has been wracked by political turmoil and repeated attacks on opposition figures and protesters in the months since Georgia’s disputed election in late October.

Protests have been taking place every night since a month later, the leaders of “Georgian Dream” announced that they were freezing the issue of starting negotiations on joining the European Union.

Hundreds of businesses took part in a three-hour strike on Wednesday for the 49th consecutive day of protests.

Video of the incident late Tuesday night in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in Batumi was unclear, although it showed Gakharia being tackled to the floor by a group of men. Images later showed him with blood on his shirt.

On Wednesday morning, Giorgi Gakharia wrote on social media that “I’m fine with my health,” but the doctor who treated him said he had a broken bone in his nose and a concussion.

European Commission spokeswoman Anita Hipper said it was “shocking to report the involvement of Georgian Dream politicians in the brutal attack” and there was no place for violence and impunity in any democracy.

However, members of “Georgian Dream” accused Gakharia of having initiated the fight himself. Deputy Levan Machavariani told reporters that everything was clear from the video footage, while Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said the opposition’s agenda was based on lies and deception.

The Georgian Dream MP and other party members were linked to the attack, which came shortly after Zviad Karidze, a journalist and regional head of the anti-corruption organization Transparency International, was attacked.

Karidze was coming to Batumi to cover the trial of leading media figure Mzia Amoglobeli, founder of independent online publications Netgazeti and Batumelebi.

On Tuesday, two days after being detained during a heated argument with a policeman in which she is accused of slapping an officer, she was placed in a pre-trial detention center in the Black Sea coastal city. The operator was also arrested.

The British ambassador to Georgia, Gareth Ward, said the development of the political crisis in recent days was “very worrying”. “The renewal of violence against opposition politicians and the arbitrary detention of journalists and protesters are unacceptable,” he said.

Gakharia is not the first opposition leader to face violence in recent weeks. Niko Gvaramiya, who heads the Coalition for Change, was knocked to the ground unconscious when he was detained in the capital, Tbilisi, last month.

Dozens of Georgian journalists and protesters were also attacked and injured by pro-government thugs during night protests.

Georgian Dream is accused by the EU and the US of backing away from democracy, while opposition groups accuse the party and its billionaire founder Bidina Ivanishvili of pursuing Russian interests, while the vast majority of Georgians want to join the EU.

Giorgi Gakharia was previously a leading member of Georgian Dream until 2021, serving as interior minister and then prime minister before forming his own opposition party, For Georgia.

In his statement, the Ombudsman of Georgia, Levan Ioseliani, condemned the attacks on Gakharia and Zviad Karidze. He called for an immediate response “so that there is no incitement to attacks on politicians and journalists.”

Gakharia’s party was one of four opposition groups that won seats in the October election, but all refused to take their seats, accusing the ruling party of vote-rigging.

The European Parliament called for repeat elections, calling them neither free nor fair, and the EU’s high representative for foreign policy, Kaia Kalas, accused the government of using repression against the opposition.