Approximately 500 demonstrators representing the arts, academia and science gathered at the Parliament on the evening of April 8th in advance of larger demonstrations planned for the following day. Protestors carried flowers and candles to the official memorial to victims of the April 9, 1989 massacre of demonstrators.
Theater students fought over one chair as a pantomime theatre experiment in front of Georgia's Parliament House Wednesday night. PHOTO BY GIORGI PKHACHIASHVILI
The International Institute of Democracy Development, an organization of theatre students and musicians, staged a brief theatrical performance entitled “Fighting for One Chair.” The Group stated that it had come to deliver the message that “the interests of the country should be more important than the places of the government.”
The Georgian Association of Teachers and Scientists United for Peace and Our Country asked for both sides to compromise and not give in to violence. “We must remember April 9, 1989. We must avoid bloodshed.”
Student groups also joined the demonstration.
By Giorgi Pkhachiashvili
