EDS Statement on the Raid of UNM’s Party Headquarters and the Arrest of Nika Melia
Nika Melia, Chair of Georgia’s largest opposition party, has been detained in a violent raid involving hundreds of police and special forces. The UNM party headquarters were stormed despite more than one thousand people having been peacefully gathered inside the building to express their solidarity and to protect the party leader from unlawful detention. Pepper spray and tear gas were used by the police. Law enforcement brutality compelled party members to leave the building, after…