TBILISI -- Georgian police violently dispersed a days-long protest at the State University in Tbilisi, arresting several people and taking down the tents where demonstrators calling for fresh elections had taken shelter from the cold during the night.
The opposition protesters have been demanding a repeat of parliamentary elections amid claims of widespread fraud and Russian influence during the October 26 polls that were won by the Moscow-friendly Georgian Dream party, which has been in power since 2012.
Video footage by RFE/RL correspondents in Tbilisi showed police dragging people to the ground, including women, and beating them before taking them away. Among those detained was Sergi Baramidze,a cameraman for the opposition channel Mtavari, who was beaten and had his camera smashed.
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Police Violently Disperse Tbilisi Protests Over Disputed Elections
Reports said many people were injured during the police raid.
Tbilisi has been rocked by protests since the elections, including on November 17-18, when demonstrators marched through the center of Tbilisi, blocking one of the main avenues, then set up tents and sleeping bags at central sites.
Some of those detained on November 19 and taken to the Interior Ministry were later released. Among them was Maya Gogidze, from the opposition's political group Lelo.
She described her ordeal to RFE/RL.
"Suddenly I heard a scream as they started dragging and taking away the participants in the rally one by one...Law enforcement officers acted in groups, grabbing one demonstrator, dragging him away, then moving on to another," Gogidze said.
"I saw that they were dragging a young boy on the asphalt and I ran to help him. They dragged me from there and suddenly I found myself facing a protester whose face was covered in blood. The police...lifted me up in the air and took me to the car."
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In Georgia Police Use Violence Against Protesters
President Salome Zurabishvili, who backs the protesters and has refused to recognize the results, said she will file a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court on November 19 to challenge the reported voting results.
"Tomorrow morning, I will file a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court for violation” of election principles,” Zurabishvili told a told a news conference on November 18, although she acknowledged little hope of success.
SEE ALSO: Wider Europe Briefing: Georgia's Vanishing EU Dreams"This is not because I believe in the Constitutional Court -- we all know that no institution in this country is independent any longer and we have received evidence of this repeatedly.
"But this should be as a sign that no legal dispute in the country should go uncontested" and that justices should have a chance to openly demonstrate their "conscience," she added.
She reiterated that he did not recognize the elections as legitimate and considered it necessary to hold a new vote -- but only with a new election administration chosen with the help of international partners.
Student groups also issued a manifesto condemning the disputed October 26 elections.
The November 17 manifesto stated that the government's "systematic rigging of elections reveals a gross attempt by the Georgian Dream party to seize control of the state."
The latest protests broke out after Georgia's Central Election Commission (CEC) on November 16 validated the results of last month's disputed elections, despite accusations of widespread fraud and Russian interference.
According to the official results, Georgian Dream won 53.93 percent of the vote against 37.79 percent garnered by an opposition alliance.
The Central Election Commission announced the result during an acrimonious session that was briefly interrupted after opposition representative Davit Kirtadze splashed a black liquid on CEC chief Giorgi Kalandarishvili and called him a "dark spot."
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Georgian Opposition Politician Throws Black Liquid On Electoral Chief To Protest Vote
Kirtadze's protest was intended to refer to the ink from voters' pens that was visible through the thin paper on the other side of some ballots. The opposition says this compromised confidentiality in the disputed voting on October 26.
Georgia's pro-European opposition has boycotted the new parliament, renouncing its mandates from the October 26 vote, alleging widespread fraud and Russian interference.
EU and other Western officials have expressed serious doubts about the elections and perceived irregularities.
Georgia has been a candidate for EU membership since last year, but a "foreign influence" law and anti-LGBT measures have stalled that effort.
The United States in July announced that it would pause more than $95 million in assistance to the Georgian government, warning it that it was backsliding on democracy.