Six protesters, 21 police officers hospitalised after Tbilisi unrest

Following the events at the protest in Tbilisi on October 4, emergency medical teams transported six injured protesters and 21 law enforcement officers to medical facilities, according to the Georgian Ministry of Health.

Medical teams provided on-site treatment to around 30 additional injured individuals, per Sputnik Georgia.

“The hospitalised victims have injuries of varying severity. The condition of one police officer is considered serious,” the Ministry of Health stated.

Some of the injured are undergoing further medical examinations and remain under doctors’ supervision.

The unrest unfolded as polls closed in the highly contested municipal elections, where voters selected 2,058 council members and 64 mayors across the country. Tens of thousands of opposition supporters, waving Georgian and EU flags, rallied in central Tbilisi on Rustaveli Avenue before marching toward the Orbeliani Palace, the residence of former pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili.

Demonstrators breached the palace grounds, erecting barricades and chanting for a "peaceful revolution" against the ruling party, Georgian Dream, which they accuse of election fraud, authoritarianism, and pro-Russian leanings. Opera singer and opposition figure Paata Burchuladze, who organised the rally, read a declaration calling for a transitional government and new parliamentary elections, citing the "unconstitutional" nature of GD's rule.

The October 4 clashes are the latest escalation in a year-long wave of demonstrations that began in late 2024, triggered by GD's controversial parliamentary election victory on October 26, 2024, widely decried as rigged by the opposition, President Zourabichvili, and international observers like the OSCE.

By Khagan Isayev