On February 4, during a protest held outside the Georgian Parliament building in Tbilisi, police unlawfully obstructed journalists from carrying out their professional duties and physically assaulted three of them:

While on assignment, a police officer violently struck NEWS.On.ge editor-in-chief Vancent Khabeshvili in the head, knocking him to the ground.

According to Publika, police also assaulted their journalist, Natia Levershvili, during her professional duties near the Parliament — officers reportedly hit her and pulled her hair.

A masked officer attempted to seize the phone of OC Media journalist Givi Avaliani, who was filming the arrest of a protester.

“I was recording a person being detained during the assault on journalists at Parliament, when one of the masked officers grabbed my phone and tried to take it,” Avaliani wrote.

The protest outside Parliament was held in support of Batumelebi founder and editor Mzia Amaghlobeli, who has been on a hunger strike for 24 days in protest.