From 4-9 April 1989, a peaceful gathering of thousands of Georgians took place in the centre of Tbilisi (Soviet at the time), organized by leaders of the Georgian national movement, in particular Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Merab Kostava, and other leaders, against the Soviet-Kremlin occupation administration and in support of the restoration of Georgia’s independence.
On 8 April, the Georgian and Kremlin communists and Mikhail Gorbachev personally decided to disperse a demonstration of peaceful Georgians with military force.
On 7-8 April, Soviet troops were sent to Tbilisi, including soldiers from Perm, Voronezh, Gorky, Dzerzhinsky’s division from Armenia, and Georgian cops. The operation was led by Muscovite General Igor Rodionov (this war criminal later became the Minister of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 1996-1997 and a deputy of the Duma of the Russian Federation in 1999-2007). The total number of soldiers who took part in the crime reached more than 900 people, armored personnel carriers and landing combat vehicles were involved. The day before, Soviet tanks drove over Tbilisi and military helicopters flew over it.
On the night of 9 April, more than 10,000 Georgians gathered in the square in front of the Georgian parliament, building barricades from trucks and trolleybuses.
At 2:50 a.m., the occupation troops called over loudspeakers to vacate the square and disperse, and Georgian Patriarch Ilya II also addressed the demonstrators.
The Georgians continued to sing, showing peaceful intentions. They decided not to offer resistance and, if soldiers appeared, to sit on the ground with the hope that “they don’t beat those who lie down,” and the army wouldn’t touch them.
At 4:21 a.m., the Soviet troops and police began their attack. The soldiers brutally beat the demonstrators with sapper shovels and rubber batons and used tear gas.
More than 20 people were killed, mostly young women and more than 4,000 were injured. The investigative commission acknowledged the excessive use of force by the troops and noted that the troops’ main desire was not to liberate the square, but to take revenge, order, and intimidate the demonstrators.
Another dispersal of a peaceful demonstration by Soviet troops caused considerable publicity in Georgia, rallied the Georgian opposition, and significantly accelerated the collapse of the USSR.
In 1990, Zviad Gamsakhurdia was elected by an overwhelming majority as Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia, and then as the first President of Georgia.
9 April was declared the Day of National Unity of Georgia.
On the second anniversary of the tragedy, 9 April 1991, the Georgian Parliament adopted a declaration on the RESTORATION OF INDEPENDENCE, effectively restoring the sovereign Georgian Democratic Republic of 1918-1921.
and then:
– coup d’état by pro-Moscow forces and fighting in the streets of Tbilisi 1991–1992
– Muscovite-inspired war in Georgia 1991-1993
– seizure of power by the pro-Moscow Communard Shevardnadze in 1993-2003
– the assassination of Gamsakhurdia by Moscow security services in 1993
– The Rose Revolution in 2003 and Saakashvili’s rise to power, the rapid pro-European development of Georgia
– Moscow-Georgian war of 2008
– the coming to power in 2012 of the party of the pro-Moscow oligarch Ivanishvili and the creeping hybrid pro-Moscow occupation
– since March 2023, large-scale protests by Georgians against the pro-Moscow government have been ongoing in Georgia…
Fight, you will fight.
Long live Free Georgia!
