The Tbilisi City Court has ordered pretrial detention for the five organisers of a major anti-government rally which took place in the Georgian capital on October 4, the same day as local elections.

Opposition politicians Paata Burchuladze, Murtaz Zodelava, Irakli Nadiradze, Paata Manjgaladze and Lasha Beridze have been charged with organising and leading group violence.

The activists had ambitiously billed the demonstration as a “peaceful revolution” to overthrow the Georgian Dream (GD) government. They urged citizens to head not to the polls on election day but to the streets.

Tens of thousands gathered peacefully on Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue on October 4, while a smaller group attempted to storm the presidential palace on the instruction of rally organisers including Burchuladze.

The attempt failed; protesters were repelled by riot police who used pepper spray and tear gas to clear the streets.

On October 6, prosecutors announced that 13 individuals had been arrested their involvement in the unrest. Two more people have been identified and, according to the interior ministry, are currently in hiding.

The 13 includes the five members of the “organising committee”, who were all arrested on the night of 4/5 October.

In Burchuladze’s case, police arrived to detain him at the hospital where he was being treated after law enforcement used pepper spray against him.

The organisers are charged with “attempted seizure or blockade of strategic and particularly important facilities, committed by a group”, “organization and leadership of group violence”, and “incitement to change the constitutional order of Georgia through violence”, as cited by Civil.ge. All face up to nine years in prison.