Police in Tbilisi arrested 10 people who were holding “insulting banners” in a public space, the Interior Ministry said late on July 26, after media had earlier reported the detention of anti-government protesters and activists over banners about Georgian Dream founder and honorary chairman Bidzina Ivanishvili.
According to media reports, protester Tornike Toshkhua was the first person arrested. The arrest took place outside the Tbilisi City Council (Sakrebulo) building on Liberty Square, where Toshkhua was holding a banner asking, “Is Bidzina [Ivanishvili] a d**k? Yes or No.” In a Facebook video, police officers are seen approaching him and escorting him to a police van.
Toshkhua’s arrest reportedly prompted several other anti-government protesters and activists to arrive at the scene in solidarity, carrying banners with the same wording targeting Ivanishvili. Nine of them, including women, were arrested amid tensions, with police seen forcibly removing some from the group and dragging them into police vehicles.
Among those reportedly arrested were Ia Melitauri, Lasha Dgebuadze, Mariam Mekantsishvili, Vaso Beridze, Sandro Sekhniashvili, Marine Nanava, Shako Baghdoshvili, Tornike Tikaradze and Nato Bolkvadze.
According to the Interior Ministry, in addition to holding “insulting banners,” the protesters were also “voicing insulting phrases, disrupting public order, and resisting law enforcement officers.” The ministry statement did not specify whom the banners were directed at.
The statement added that the arrests were made under Articles 166 and 173 of Georgia’s Code of Administrative Offences, which cover “disorderly conduct” and “disobedience to a lawful order or demand of a law-enforcement officer,” respectively. Both offences are punishable by a fine or administrative detention of up to 15 days.
Some of the detainees had already faced administrative detention in connection with protest-related cases.
Toshkhua was recently released from prison after serving nearly ten months in a case in which he was found guilty of “group violence” alongside a fellow protester over an incident involving a pro-government figure on Rustaveli Avenue, the main protest site.
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