Zurab Tchiaberashvili, one of the leading figures in opposition UNM party, was attacked in downtown Tbilisi café on Tuesday afternoon leaving him with head injuries.

Tchiaberashvili, who was Georgia’s ambassador to Switzerland and served as healthcare minister and governor of Kakheti region under ex-President Saakashvili’s administration, told journalists outside the café that he and his companion were attacked by two men; he said the attackers were identified.

Standing outside the café with his head bandaged for injuries and bloodstains on his shirt, Tchiaberashvili told journalists before being taken to hospital for further treatment, that the two men attacked him and his companion unprovoked; Tchiaberashvili said that before one of the attackers hit him three times in the head with a cup, the assailant splashed tea on one of Tchiaberashvili’s companions, Nodar Ladaria.

“The only thing they [the attackers] were saying was: ‘how do you dare to walk in the street’… ‘Get out of here’,” Tchiaberashvili said, adding that the assailants ran away after the attack.