In April 1989, protests broke out in Tbilisi and other cities in Georgia. The population in the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia denounced the separatist demands encouraged by the Soviet Russia and voiced by communist leaders. The protests, which began with demands for the resignation of the chairman of the Communist Party of Abkhazia, Boris Adleiba, and an end to Moscow’s anti-Georgian policies, escalated within a few days into demands for complete independence from Russia.

Tens of thousands of Georgian citizens, accompanied by Georgian songs, prayers, and dances, stood on Rustaveli Street with the hunger strikers, peacefully showing the Soviet government that they neither liked their policies nor had anything in common with them. However, peaceful protest and resistance were also a threat to the Soviet regime.

► For more information: Fragments of the Struggle Against Russian Regimes: from Treaty of Georgievsk to the Present Day

In order to crush the national liberation movement once again, the leadership of the Soviet Republic ordered the rally to be dispersed on the morning of April 9. The Red Army’s brutality resulted in 21 deaths and hundreds of injuries. Among the dead were 17 women, ranging in age from 16 to 70. 

One of the most difficult days in Georgia’s recent history did not produce the results the communists had hoped for. Instead of fearing and retreating, the people continued to fight and, after 70 years of domination, liberated themselves from Soviet Russia and regained their independence.

Despite regaining independence, Georgian citizens are still fighting for their freedom from Russia. For decades, the country has been trying to save democracy, freedom, and the European values ​​it stands for from the Kremlin’s policies. However, today, as then, Georgia is being fought alongside brute force in an information war — propaganda that still works today.

In this article, we will examine how the Soviet government attempted to discredit the 1989 demonstrators, cover up the tragedy of April 9, and justify its own aggressive actions, and we will also draw parallels with how these methods resemble today’s reality. To do this, we will examine the events of April 9 from various sources, which will help us see the broader picture.

How the Events of April 1989 Were Covered in the International Media

The Washington Post, in its April 9, 1989 edition, a digital copy of which can be viewed on its website, reported on the large-scale protests and violence against citizens in Georgia. The article noted that despite the Sovietization 70 years ago, Georgia had and still has a strong tradition of nationalist sentiment, which was manifested in the fact that strikers closed factories, restaurants, schools, and theaters in Tbilisi and other cities for six days, and at least 150 people went on hunger strike.

It also explained how “dangerous, complex, and emotional” the demand for political sovereignty in the Soviet republics was, and how strict new laws would combat those who “publicly called for the overthrow of the Soviet state and its social system, as well as the publication or dissemination of materials containing such ideas.”

While the Soviet press spared no effort to smear the April protesters, the international media saw the Georgian protests this way:

“For almost a week, thousands of Georgians demonstrated for political and economic autonomy from Moscow. Various local leaders made speeches, and the crowd, sometimes numbering tens of thousands, sang Georgian songs and read aloud the works of Georgian writers.”

It also describes the Soviet troops’ call to disperse and the Patriarch’s offer to move to Kashueti. The publication writes that the Russian state agency TASS accused the protesters of rude and disrespectful treatment of the clergy, although there is footage showing that the demonstrators simply refused to disperse and thanked the head of the Orthodox Church.

“We felt like we had to stay where we were and fight for ourselves,” Maia Lachavariani, a linguistics professor and supporter of the Georgian sovereignty movement, told The Washington Post.

The publication also writes, citing witnesses, about a group of women who thought the troops would not harm them and tried to block the road for the soldiers:

“We didn’t disperse. We were absolutely peaceful in what we were doing, but they started beating us.”

It also notes that “in the Soviet Georgian city of Tbilisi,” at least 16 demonstrators were killed and dozens injured “when army troops armed with shovels dispersed a rally of about 8,000 people demanding greater political autonomy from Moscow.”

“The official version of the Soviet government, disseminated by the state news agency Tass, blames “extremist groups for stirring up unhealthy feelings among the people” and justifies the actions of the army against “anti-social forces” that had “gone out of control.” However, Georgians interviewed by telephone claimed that the troops were brutal and that their actions “had no explanation,” — this is an excerpt from the publication’s article, which shows how vast the difference was between the reality of the Georgian people and the Soviet Union.

The publication, citing witnesses, writes that the clash began after 4:00 AM, when demonstrators who had gathered near the Tbilisi government offices, or rather, in front of the new parliament, refused an army order to disperse.

“Supported by tanks and armored personnel carriers, soldiers entered the crowd, beating protesters with heavy batons. Tass wrote that the demonstrators were armed with stones, iron bars and heavy objects,” the recording reads.

This is how Soviet propaganda tried to justify the unlawful violence against citizens and portray them as dangerous by emphasizing that they had stones. This is how Georgian Dream propaganda still tries to justify the violence against demonstrators by special forces and accuse them of aggressive behavior.

Information on the events in Georgia can be found  in the April 10, 1989 issue of The New York Times, also on the front page, which can be viewed in the digital archive.

“The mood changed from anger over Abkhazia to a passionate call for political and economic autonomy from Moscow. The hunger strikers voiced the most extreme demand: secession from the Soviet Union and the creation of an independent government.”

The publication also recorded interviews with people in Tbilisi, who explained that the demonstrators were bothered by the sight of troops in Tbilisi during the days of the protests, although they were calm until the morning of April 9. It also explains that at 04:00 in the morning, “when the moon was shining the streets,” the soldiers demanded to disperse, which was refused, and then began to press on citizens and use batons indiscriminately.

“According to widespread reports, sixteen people were killed and more than 200 injured in the early hours of the morning when thousands of nationalist demonstrators in Tbilisi, the capital of Soviet Georgia, refused to disperse and Soviet troops moved in with batons,” begins the article, which also specifies, based on Soviet government data, that more than 100 of the injured were civilians and 91 were soldiers. It is also noted that citizens do not recognize these figures and that the death toll is higher.

For the same article, the publication recorded an interview with Georgian director Lana Ghoghoberidze, who participated in the protest, who says:

“My God, this is so tragic, so terrible and tragic. Young girls and boys are dead. The situation here is very dangerous.”

In addition, the material quotes a certain Ms. Bakradze, whose name is not specified: “This is not just a student demonstration. We are intellectuals, workers, and we will no longer allow ourselves to be silent. This is a real struggle, not a show.”

It is also emphasized that, according to Tass, the square is “under the control of the army” and “several instigators of the riot have been arrested.” The article is about General Rodionov’s order to declare a curfew and a new decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of Moscow, which imposed severe punishment for “inciting ethnic or racial hostility” and “discrediting public officials or state bodies or officials.” The author of the article evaluates this decree as a sign of the Soviet leadership’s concern about the events in Georgia and its intention to remain firm against nationalist groups. The attempt to silence individuals and citizens participating in the demonstration with repressive laws is still relevant today.

At the end of the article, the author discusses Sovietization, the subsequent tense relationship between the Georgian people and the Soviet government, and the historical context of Georgia, and writes:

“The Georgian people survived centuries of conquest and rule by the Mongols, Turks, Persians, and Tsarist Russians, and despite their domination, they managed to preserve their ancient language and rich heritage, expressed in literature, dance, and religion. It seems that their historical experience helped them do this even under Soviet rule, although Georgians say they often felt threatened by Moscow, which sought to unify the country under a homogenized Soviet culture.”

The April 12, 1989, edition of The Albany Herald, a digitized version of which is available at Google Archive, reports that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev issued a call for calm to a crowd angered by the deaths of 19 demonstrators. It also notes that international reporters were not allowed into Tbilisi and that the article relies on the accounts of demonstrators on the ground and official accounts in Soviet publications.

“After clashes with troops and tanks on the streets of Tbilisi, Georgian nationalists are distributing handwritten leaflets calling on people to join a general strike, the Defense Ministry’s newspaper Red Star reports,” the publication writes.

The Daily Union published an article by Associated Press journalist Anna Imes on April 13, 1989, in which she wrote that Gorbachev’s call for calm was unlikely to appease the people, who were angry over the deaths of 19 demonstrators.

“Gorbachev rejected the demands of Georgians seeking secession from the Soviet Union and blamed them for the conflict, which he said was harming his drive for reform,” the journalist writes.

The material, which partly contains the same story as the previous day’s issue of The Albany Herald, also contains information that official Soviet sources blame the deaths of people on the protesters, namely the “actions of irresponsible individuals,” and not only accuse but also exonerate the soldiers.

In 2016, the publication On.ge published an interview with Anna Ims, where she wrote that in 1989 she was an Associated Press journalist working in Moscow and providing the agency with material prepared there to the press around the world. Ims told the publication that she learned about the tragedy the next morning when one of the citizens called from Tbilisi. She said she will never forget how shocked she was when she heard that person’s story and at first she could not understand what they were saying.

“‘They killed people Lapatami?'” — I asked several times, then I also clarified with our translator whether I understood correctly what this person was telling me,” — Ana tells On.ge, explaining that her surprise knew no bounds when the translator confirmed that the person who had come from Tbilisi on the phone was talking about the killing of demonstration participants with shovels.

Ana also says that despite the three-day procedures, she was not allowed to enter Georgia for two weeks. After arriving, she received confirmation from multiple sources, including officials, that poison gas was used to disperse the rally.

Anna says that two weeks after April 9, the situation in Tbilisi had changed radically. According to her, there was a revolutionary mood among the people, and in order to neutralize this charge a little, the leadership of the Georgian Central Committee was changed:

“Flags of independent Georgia were displayed everywhere.”

The Night of April 9 in the Stories of Eyewitnesses

We have already heard the stories of many people about the tragedy of April 9, who years later spoke to various media outlets about how they had to fight for the independence of their country and save their lives when Russian soldiers were chasing them with shovels. However, a few months ago, a website was created where previously unseen stories and letters from eyewitnesses were published.

“In the days following the April 9 tragedy, a group of friends collected eyewitness accounts of that night. Their letters were submitted as a unified report to the Supreme Council. As a result, the so-called Sobchak Commission was created and an investigation began,” we read on the website. Today, we will present several stories that volunteers published.

“15 thousand Georgians, among them chosen patriots, whose hearts are boiling with love for Georgia, stood and prayed. Then silence fell… “Silence, let there be silence!” — a voice was heard. Perhaps the truth would be born in the moments of silence.”

Then someone shouted, “they’re coming, they’re coming.” We knew they were coming, we knew it would probably be hard to hold on, and we also knew we shouldn’t touch anyone, and what could us, the powerless women, even do? We met the tanks and military equipment with applause, only loudly repeating the words of the prayer, “Georgia, Georgia!” The women were told to retreat. The women were told to get out of here, they were told in advance. No one left. The desire for self-sacrifice and the feeling of this happy torture were stronger… Alas, so many suffered…

(Georgia has been sold — we already knew it!) The equipment was ready and a multi-headed, thousand-armed monster dressed in military uniform emerged, slashing children and women with dull-edged shovels — the innocent thirsty for the holy blood of Christians, the army brought in by a non-human, the executors of orders issued by a non-human!”, — we read in a letter by an unknown author. Her story continues like this :

“The militiamen, who had laid down their weapons three days earlier, barricaded themselves in the streets to save the starving girls — they were also being slaughtered and drowned in blood.”

However… we didn’t hear a single shot. Cynics are “surprised” how a specially trained special forces unit killed women and children, since no one used firearms (the newspaper even wrote that they treated young people and women with special care!)

“With swollen lips, poisoned by some toxic gas, and bloody feet, us, three women arrived at the house that night, feeling like we were in a terrible dream.”

Ramaz Oboladze / National Library of Parliament

Eyewitness accounts repeatedly highlight the particular cruelty towards women and girls. For example, I.N., a second-year student at the Faculty of Cybernetics and Applied Mathematics at Tbilisi State University, writes that at approximately 04:00, when the armored personnel carriers set off, the people passed them peacefully and there were no words, shouts, or stones thrown, but the Russian soldiers brutally beat the people.

“We waited until the army passed by. Instead, without any warning, the soldiers pulled out shovels and clubs and began to butcher the unarmed people. The people were so stunned that they did not offer any resistance. We rushed up the stairs, hoping that the soldiers would not chase us, but there was a sound of breaking glass and first the young people who were standing on the steps of the Pioneer Palace rushed in, and then the soldiers. They jumped on the fallen people and butchered them mercilessly.

Some of the young people ran away, and some jumped up to the top of the stairs where we were standing. We moved to the second floor and watched everything that was happening below from above. The street between the Government Palace and the Pioneer Palace was blocked by a large truck. The soldiers ran over to this truck and tried to break the windshield. When they couldn’t do it with shovels, they brought iron clubs and beat them until the windows were completely broken. In addition, they broke the windows of all the cars that were in their way.

Meanwhile, part of the crowd (mostly young people) stood up to them to hold them back and give the others time to take out the ones on the hunger strike. These people were not armed with anything. This made the soldiers even more angry. They dragged out one young man at a time, one holding him back, while the other mercilessly beat him with a shovel. They did not trust girls or women either. One soldier made a girl bang her head against the wall so many times that her blood was all over the place.

The soldiers were mercilessly trampling and butchering the fallen. They chased the fleeing people until they caught up with them, and then they began to butcher them mercilessly. At that time, they fired from strangely shaped weapons in the direction of the people. The object fired was larger than a regular bullet, which exploded in the air and released a bluish-white gas. Anyone who came into the area of ​​​​action of this gas immediately fell to the ground. Some of the military personnel tried to get behind the people through the passage between the gas canisters. The militiamen stepped in front of them and tried to stop them. The soldiers threw the young men and militiamen into the lawns, where they then beat them with shovels and batons. The militiamen tried in every way to create a human wall to stop the soldiers, but they were beaten mercilessly. Meanwhile, a group of soldiers emerged from inside the government palace, resulting in the people being surrounded.

Another participant in the April protests recalls that on April 8, at 4 p.m., the women protestors planned a separate demonstration in the hope that the pleas of mothers, wives, and sisters would have more impact than the withdrawal of tanks from Tbilisi. After this march, they found themselves in front of tanks and shovels.

“The women’s demonstration headed towards Vake, shouting “Georgia”. On the way, we did not allow the boys and men who wanted to join us, we only called on the women to stand by us. The street where Patiashvili lives was surrounded by the army, the militia, and was blocked by buses. Of course, we could not even get close to the house. Then, at the entrance to the street, where the monument to K. Gamsakhurdia stands, we sat down and held a rally. Several women spoke. Then, the participants of the rally elected 3 female delegates, whom we instructed to go to Patiashvili, if he was not at home, to be received by his wife and, as a woman, mother, wife, sister, to share our concerns, to influence his wife to withdraw the tanks from the city. This demand of the rally was not met, the delegation was refused.

Then we, the demonstrators, headed towards Sioni. It was about 10 p.m. The service was over. We stood in front of the Patriarch’s house with lit candles in our hands. We sent a delegation to him with a request to intercede with the government: to withdraw the tanks from the city. He only promised us that the Kashueti and Sameba churches would work all night, he would pray for us, and the priest would accompany us. We, the demonstrators, returned to the government palace. The peaceful rally continued. I don’t know what time it was. The Patriarch came and addressed us: “Don’t think that I was sent by the government, I was brought here by the hardships of my people, the people are in danger! Please disperse!..” Then he said a prayer. A solemn silence fell… No one moved. Someone started singing, people followed him. Then someone played a dance tune on a Salamuri, people danced… Suddenly we heard the roar of tanks, tanks appeared from Lenin Square… I don’t remember where or how soldiers with batons and axes appeared, they broke into the people, we ran away… They were chasing us… A terrifying scream could be heard… They chased us to the Iveria Hotel…

We only stopped at the Philarmonia…. “We survived”, oh, to call this surviving… I am a participant in the bloody day of March 9, 1956. What is the difference between 1956 and 1989?? Is this democracy???????”

Jemal Kasradze / National Library of Parliament

Another protest participant recalls the cruelty and aggression that Soviet soldiers showed towards women and children.

“The bloodthirsty, drunken special forces were shouting: “это вам для Сталина” and “бей грузинов” [“This is for you, Stalin” and “Beat the Georgians”].

They stopped for a moment at the entrance to the artist palace. There were helpless women and girls in the artist’s house, and suddenly their leader rushed in and shouted, “забывайте их до конца” [“beat them to the end”]. After these words, the soldiers rushed into the artist palace and dragged the women up to the third floor, beating them brutally.

After the gas was released, we ran towards the Rustaveli metro station. At that moment, an armored personnel carrier came out of Lunacharsky Street and ran into the crowd at full speed. The crowd dispersed, leaving two 13-14 year old boys in the middle of the street. This armored personnel carrier hit them and would have crushed them if they hadn’t been in the yard.

The Events of April 9 in the Soviet Press

Both eyewitness accounts and international media coverage reveal the brutality shown by Russian soldiers against peaceful protesters. However, the Soviet government was not going to admit this and tried to justify its actions with false narratives, manipulation, and blaming the protesters. You can easily see this if you look at the newspapers of the time.

If you look at the Soviet press about April 9, you will find that you can learn more from the periodicals of that time about how propaganda worked than about what happened on April 9. An observation of several newspapers studied by the online publication On.ge (the evening newspaper “Tbilisi” of the Communist Party of Georgia, the Tbilisi City Committee and the City Council of People’s Deputies; the newspaper “Communist” of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, the Supreme Council of the Georgian SSR and the Council of Ministers; the newspaper “Literary Georgia” of the Writers’ Union of Georgia) shows how the Soviet media “blackened” the April rallies. Today we will tell you how the Soviet government tried to rewrite reality.

In early April, Soviet publications tried to portray the ongoing protests in Tbilisi as insignificant and to link the reasons only to the events in Abkhazia. In the following days, the emphasis was placed on the “anti-Soviet appeals” voiced at the rally, as well as the need to “show common sense” and the fact that “everything that disrupted the normal life of the capital is unjustified.” These methods are not foreign to modern Georgian reality, when Georgian Dream politicians first try to downplay the significance or scale of the protest, and then call on the participants to remain calm.

In the April 10 edition of the newspaper “Tbilisi”, a statement from the Communist Party was printed on the front page, which placed responsibility for the incident not on the people who gave the orders or on the soldiers who participated in the violence, but on:

“The leaders of the informal associations of the extreme orientation, who with their unacceptable, unbridled, anti-state actions have greatly strained the public atmosphere, created a situation of obvious political hysteria, and have led a significant part of citizens, including students and schoolchildren, into a state of panic. They have exploited the sincerity and emotions of the younger generation, taken advantage of their life inexperience, and have brought our society, the entire people, and the republic to disaster.”

Moreover, the Soviet government was proud of the fact that the soldiers who killed so many people did not use firearms, presenting this as an example of the correct response on their part.

Do you think the list of those unjustly accused ends here? The Soviet government held teachers, lecturers, the rectorate, and general education institutions responsible because they “firmly believed” that these people had not fulfilled their obligations and had not carried out educational work, had not carried out the necessary measures that they had repeatedly called for.

Just as during the Soviet Union, now, not only during the protests of recent months, but also during previous years, those in power have repeatedly tried in public statements to portray the organizers, political parties, non-governmental organizations, and universities and lecturers whose students were active in the protests as those responsible for the violence and the dispersal of the protests. The phrases that the Soviet government actively used to portray the protest participants as radicals in the minds of the people are also familiar, and similar assessments are still often heard today from members of the ruling party.

After the violence of April 9, numerous propaganda news and appeals were published on the pages of the publication “Tbilisi”, which again served as attempts to accuse, calm the people, and demonstrate the care of the Soviet government. We offer a few excerpts to create a general impression:

• “May the blood that will be shed along with the blood that has been shed make us think and draw the right conclusions.”
• “False orientations have led a section of people astray, and disorder has begun.”
• “Peace, discipline, let’s restore a normal rhythm.”
• “Let’s overcome the crisis, and restore trust.”

Slogans about restoring peace were also found in the newspaper “Communist”. In issues published after April 9, “Communist” wrote that “cooperators are plowing,” that “rogue elements” are putting up protest posters, and that the rhythm of working life must be restored and losses must be compensated.

“The youth did not even know what kind of Georgia the representatives of the older generation were calling for. The result? Among the innocent victims of that fateful night were mothers who died only because they were looking for their children among the rally participants in the middle of the night,” — read the propaganda appeal of one of the issues of “Communist” under the headline “Let’s bring peace back to Georgia.”

Critical opinions of Georgian citizens were voiced in “Literary Georgia”, whose April 21 edition published an appeal from writers to Gorbachev. The authors of the letter highlighted the shameful campaign that the republic’s leadership and satellite television channels have launched to smear the demonstrators and justify the violence, and also noted that he may not know the true nature of the matter.

“Perhaps to justify themselves to you, to “save” the name of Soviet democracy, they decided not to fire a bullet and to kill the protesters with a method never seen before, with specially sharpened shovels, so that later they could say that the rally was broken up by unarmed troops. How naive our young people turned out to be when they suddenly met the invading troops. They thought that they would not give a hand to the invading troops. But the drunken murderers, who invaded not to break up the rally, but to kill people, did not trust even those who fled.”

They also call the Communist Party’s call after April 9 cynical, ironic, and maliciously mocking, as well as the television broadcasts that “Soviet soldiers took special care not to harm women and children.” They criticize the concealment of the real cause of death of the victims and the government’s cover-up of the real composition of the gas, which complicated the treatment of the poisoned.

“Dear Secretary General! Instead of any sense of remorse from the organizers of this massacre, there is an attempt to hide the causes of death of the deceased. They are trying to declare, as a result of a fake examination, not blunt shovels and clubs, but “fatal” injuries received during a fall in a mass of people. […] They are already officially spreading a rather trite version that for the first time young people used cold weapons and wounded a soldier. (Let us recall the 1956 massacre in Tbilisi, when a similar provocation was organized against young people and the Georgian people. Back then, it was easy to find people who “witnessed” this fact, and probably today it will not be difficult to find spiritually enlightened careerists,” the writers said, calling on Gorbachev to invite experts from international organizations to investigate the criminal nature of the case and They demanded that “Vremya” broadcast coverage of the real development of events.

The methods described in this letter are still a familiar reality today, as activists have repeatedly been accused of attacking police officers, throwing stones and sharp objects in order to justify the disproportionate force used against the protesters. Also, eyewitnesses, whom human rights activists call false witnesses, have repeatedly come forward and have accused several protesters of resisting, attacking police officers and organizing a crime as a group. We have also heard that those responsible for the violence and dispersal at the rally were doing their job well. The methods by which the Soviet government tried to discredit the April demonstrations and justify their unjustified violence are still familiar today. The population of Georgia, both then and now, is fighting to free itself from Russian influence, and they are still using Russian methods against them.

The people’s methods of struggle are also unchanged. After 36 years, Nana Makharadze is still standing on Rustaveli Street — a girl with a flag, a symbol of April 9. Students and parents of prisoners are still staying up all night in front of the parliament, the poster that has become a symbol “Down with the rotten empire of Russia, long live independent Georgia” is still unfurled, candles are still lit, and tulips are still brought in honor of the fallen. The struggle continues.