Thugs beat up opposition members and destroyed two offices of groups opposed to the leader of Georgia's semi-autonomous region of Adjara, the groups said Saturday, pinning the blame on the regional government.
Thugs attacked opposition members and destroyed the offices of the opposition Kmara (Enough) movement, which along with the Unified Council is opposed to authoritarian president Aslan Abashidze, an official said.
"Several of our colleagues in (the regional) capital Batumi were beaten up during the day and in the evening armed men destroyed everything in our offices and beat up the night watchman," Teya Tutberidze told AFP.
"Everything was destroyed: office material, computers, doors, windows and even the heating," in the offices of the Unified Council, also in Batumi, Gogui Japaridze told Georgian television station Rustavi-2.
He denounced the break-in, which took place overnight Friday, as an "act of vandalism planned at the highest levels of local power."
Tensions have been running high in semi-autonomous Adjara since Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili was elected in early January, with repeated demonstrations calling for Abashidze to resign.
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