December 2024: Anatomy of a Crackdown — How Georgian Security Forces Systematically Brutalized Peaceful Protesters

Summary

Between 28 November and 24 December 2024, Georgian security forces carried out a sustained, documented crackdown against largely peaceful protesters in Tbilisi. Over 460 people were arrested. More than 300 reported torture or ill-treatment. At least 80 required hospitalization. Over 50 journalists were injured or had equipment destroyed. This article compiles the evidence from four primary international reports into a single, comprehensive account.

This investigation draws exclusively on primary documentation by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), and verified media reports.

Context

On 26 October 2024, Georgia held parliamentary elections marred by widespread reports of fraud and irregularities documented by OSCE/ODIHR observers. On 28 November, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced the suspension of EU accession negotiations until 2028 — directly contradicting Georgia’s constitutional commitment to European integration.

Within hours, mass protests erupted on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi. For the following weeks, thousands gathered nightly, waving Georgian and EU flags. The government’s response was swift and brutal.

The Numbers

Detentions (28 November – 24 December 2024)

By 6 December alone — only eight nights into the protests — Amnesty International counted up to 400 people detained: more than 350 on administrative charges and 26 on criminal charges.

The most commonly used charges were Article 166 (petty hooliganism) and Article 173 (disobeying police orders) of the Code of Administrative Offenses — provisions that Human Rights Watch later documented as being systematically weaponized against peaceful protesters.

Violence and Torture

Both Amnesty and Human Rights Watch converge on the same figure: more than 300 of those detained — the majority — reported torture or other ill-treatment during or following arrest.

At least 80 people required hospitalization with severe injuries including fractured facial and other bones, and head injuries including concussions.

Methods of Violence

On the streets

Based on Amnesty International’s detailed briefing and HRW’s December reports, police and special units systematically employed:

• Water cannons — used extensively, sometimes mixed with chemical substances (see our separate investigation)
• Tear gas — deployed in large quantities, including in enclosed areas
• Pepper spray — sprayed directly into faces at close range
• Gas grenades — launched into crowds
• Rubber bullets — often fired at close range, directed at the upper body and face

Related investigation: the chemical substances mixed into water cannons. Read “When Water Burns” →

Amnesty documented that police violence was not limited to active protest sites. Many protesters were beaten after being pushed behind police lines or dragged into police vehicles. Some were later arrested at their homes or workplaces — indicating systematic identification and targeting.

In detention

The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) conducted a preliminary mission to detention facilities in December 2024. Their report describes an “unprecedented scale of police violence” against detainees:

• Severe bruising, fractures, and head injuries were observed among those held after protests
• Many seriously injured protesters did not receive prompt medical care
• Some were held for up to 48 hours without adequate treatment despite visible injuries
• IRCT observed detainees with injuries “clearly requiring immediate medical attention,” including suspected fractures and head trauma

Amnesty International’s briefing documents specific methods of torture and ill-treatment:

• Beatings: Protesters punched and kicked by multiple officers while handcuffed or restrained
• Dental injuries: At least one detainee had teeth knocked out by police strikes to the face
• Threats of sexual violence: An officer threatened to rape a detainee with a baton if he did not unlock his phone
• Denial of medical care: Injured detainees held for extended periods without treatment
• Hidden detention: Detainees moved between locations without families or lawyers being informed — approaching the definition of enforced disappearance under international law

Journalists Under Attack

Over 50 journalists were reported injured, had equipment destroyed, or were otherwise prevented from doing their jobs — despite clearly identifying themselves with press jackets, badges, and visible equipment.

Amnesty documented that:

• Water cannon jets, tear gas, and rubber bullets were deliberately directed at journalists
• Cameras and equipment were intentionally smashed by officers
• Some journalists were briefly detained or physically pushed away from protest sites

These attacks were concentrated in Tbilisi, where most independent media outlets were covering the protests. The targeting of journalists represents a systematic attempt to prevent documentation of police violence — a pattern consistent with deliberate obstruction of evidence.

The Legal Framework of Repression

In the weeks and months following the December crackdown, the Georgian government passed a series of legal amendments designed to retroactively legitimize and expand its repressive toolkit:

December 2024 amendments:

• Granted police vague “preventive arrest” powers, allowing detention of individuals for up to 48 hours based on previous administrative offenses
• Introduced new restrictions on assembly notification requirements

February 2025 amendments:

• Extended maximum administrative detention from 15 to 60 days — applied almost exclusively to protest-related offenses
• Introduced “verbal insult” of officials as a new offense punishable by up to 45 days’ detention
• Introduced criminal penalties of up to 4 years’ imprisonment for repeat protest-related violations

By September 2025, the cumulative impact was staggering: 4,444 people sanctioned for “hooliganism,” 6,725 for “disobeying police,” and 6,504 detention orders imposed by courts — the vast majority protest-related.

Who Is Responsible?

The December 2024 crackdown was carried out under the authority of:

• Vakhtang Gomelauri — Minister of Internal Affairs at the time, who oversaw the Department of Special Assignments and all riot police operations. He was sanctioned by US OFAC on 19 December 2024 for “serious human rights abuses.” See his full profile in our database.
• Mirza Kezevadze — Department of Special Assignments official, also sanctioned by US OFAC on the same date.
• Irakli Kobakhidze — Prime Minister, whose announcement suspending EU accession triggered the protests and whose government authorized the security response.

The chain of command responsibility extends from individual officers who carried out beatings and torture, through their commanders in the Department of Special Assignments, to the Interior Minister and ultimately the Prime Minister and the ruling party leadership.

International Response

The international community responded with escalating measures:

• December 1, 2024: Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) jointly sanction 11 Georgian officials
• December 5, 2024: Ukraine sanctions Bidzina Ivanishvili and 18 associates
• December 19, 2024: US OFAC sanctions Interior Minister Gomelauri; UK sanctions 5 officials
• December 20, 2024: 37 OSCE states invoke the Vienna Mechanism, citing five categories of human rights concerns
• December 27, 2024: US OFAC designates Bidzina Ivanishvili himself

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the IRCT, and dozens of other organizations called for:

• Independent investigations into all allegations of torture and ill-treatment
• Accountability for officials who ordered or carried out violence
• Release of all individuals detained solely for exercising their right to peaceful assembly
• An arms embargo on law enforcement equipment to Georgia

What the Evidence Tells Us

The December 2024 crackdown was not spontaneous or reactive. The evidence points to a planned, systematic operation designed to:

1. Suppress protest through overwhelming force and fear
2. Punish participants through mass detention and torture in custody
3. Silence documentation through deliberate targeting of journalists
4. Deter future protest through legal amendments criminalizing assembly

The scale — 460+ detained, 300+ tortured, 80+ hospitalized, 50+ journalists attacked — in just four weeks indicates institutional planning, not individual police misconduct. When the majority of all detainees report torture, the violence is policy.

Primary sources: Amnesty International briefing EUR 56/88/45/2024 “Brutal crackdown on protestors and journalists in Georgia”; Human Rights Watch “Georgia: Brutal Police Violence Against Protesters” (22 December 2024); IRCT Preliminary Mission Findings, Georgia December 2024; Human Rights Watch “Georgia’s Human Rights Crisis Deepens Amid Mass Protests” (9 December 2024).