Levan Berdzenishvili, a prominent Georgian intellectual and a literature professor was attacked in the street by an unknown man who threw eggs at Mr Berdzenishvili, calling him a “traitor.”
Mr Berdzenishvili had earlier been targeted by Georgian Dream leaders and the pro-Government media for, as they claimed “insulting” Kind Erekle II of Georgia whom Mr Berdzenishvili had criticized for concluding a treaty with Russia in 1783.
Following the campaign, Mr Berdzenishvili was targeted several times by a GD-organized mob preventing him from holding a public lecture in Kvareli, Kakheti region.
Mr Berdzenishvili said the incident was in fact organized by the Government. “There was Zura Girchi [Japaridze], now it will be Levan Berdzenishvili and then someone else, and Kobakhidze will tell us that it is an outraged citizen”.
“I don’t think that the police are on my side and the side of the citizens, so I don’t trust the police,” Mr Berdzenishvili added.
Commenting on the incident, GD Chair Irakli Kobakhidze condemned the violence but slammed Mr Berdzenishvili’s rhetoric in a manner many view as indirect encouragement for violence.
"There are people in Georgia who do everything to polarize, incite radicalism, and directly oppose everything related to our national identity. They are directly fighting against the church, the Patriarch, they are involved in unacceptable agitation, they are fighting against our hero kings who died 250 years ago," Irakli Kobakhidze said.
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