Georgia – massacre in Tbilisi
Which event radicalised George politics?
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
On April 7, 1989 troops and armored personnel carriers were sent onto the streets of Tbilisi after more than 100,000 people gathered in front of the Government and Communist Party headquarters, many with banners calling for Georgia to secede from the Soviet Union and urging the full integration into Georgia of the autonomous region of Abkhazia. On 9 April 9, 1989 at least sixteen people were killed and more than 200 wounded when troops attacked the peaceful demonstrators. This event radicalised Georgian politics, prompting many to conclude that independence was preferable to continued Soviet rule. On 14 April 1989 Gorbachev removed Jumber Patiashvili as First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party for his poor handling of the April events and replaced him with the former Georgian KGB chief Givi Gumbaridze. On July 16, 1989 in Sukhumi capital of Abkhazia a protest against the opening of a Georgian university branch in the town led to violence that quickly degenerated into a large-scale inter-ethnic confrontation in which 18 died and hundreds were injured before Soviet troops restored order. This riot marked the start of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict.