Georgian Police Arrest Top Opposition Leader, Use Tear Gas In Party HQ Raid

Tbilisi, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Feb, 2021 ) :Georgian police on Tuesday arrested a top opposition leader and used tear gas in a violent raid on his party headquarters, further deepening a political crisis sparked by last year's disputed parliamentary elections.

Live television footage showed Nika Melia, the leader of the United National Movement, the country's main opposition party, being dragged from his party headquarters to be placed in pre-trial detention.

Meanwhile hundreds of riot police used tear gas against his supporters and the leaders of all of the country's opposition parties, who have been camped out in the building since Wednesday, the Mtavari tv live pictures showed.

Scores of opposition supporters were detained.

"Shocked by the scenes at UNM headquarters this morning," British ambassador Mark Clayton wrote on Twitter. "Violence and chaos in Tbilisi are the last thing Georgia needs right now. I urge all sides to act with restraint, now and in the coming days."Georgia has been in the grip of a political crisis since last October's parliamentary elections, which opposition parties have denounced as rigged.