TBILISI, October 3 – Police in Georgia have provided new details about a violent clash that took place near Tbilisi’s Metekhi Bridge late Wednesday evening, leaving the youth opposition leader Igor Narmania injured.
The incident occurred less than 24 hours before the country’s local elections, which are taking place on the background of a tense political situation.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the confrontation began when Narmania and a group of more than ten supporters got into a dispute with two men who had come to the defense of a female church employee following an argument near the Metekhi Church. The ministry said the exchange turned physical, and both sides sustained various injuries.
Authorities said that the majority of those involved have been identified and that an investigation is underway under Article 126 of Georgia’s criminal code, which covers group violence. Police stated that the investigation is continuing “intensively.”
Narmania, deputy chairman of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) and head of its youth wing, was taken to the hospital with head injuries shortly after the altercation. Another young man, reportedly 15 years old, was also injured and hospitalized.
The UNM rejected the government’s version of events, calling the ministry’s account “a deliberate distortion of facts.” In a statement, the party claimed the attack was not spontaneous but “pre-organized” and aimed at spreading fear ahead of Thursday’s election and sidelining Narmania from the opposition’s planned protests. The statement accused the government of attempting to “portray the incident as a mutual confrontation” to cover up what it described as an “organized act of violence.”
The clash came as opposition groups, including the UNM, are calling for large demonstrations on election day, which they describe as a “peaceful revolution.”
