Shukruti Women Also Begin Hunger Strike Outside Parliament

The women on hunger strike brought four inflatable mattresses to the parliament, which they use to lie on the concrete. For over two weeks, the police have not allowed the demonstrators to set up tents, in violation of the constitution.

As soon as the four mattresses were laid out, police were mobilized in front of the parliament building. The officers insisted on removing the mattresses from the protesters, saying, "You can't, take it out of here." The hunger strikers repeatedly asked them to explain which law prohibits the use of mattresses during a continuous protest in front of the parliament. The police were unable to provide an answer to the demonstrators.

Placing a tent or building a temporary structure is part of the constitutional rights to assembly and expression, as affirmed by rulings from the city, appellate, and supreme courts. Despite this, Tbilisi City Court Judge Valeriane Pilishvili disregarded the court's established practice and, through a temporary ruling, denied the protestors' request to order the Ministry of Internal Affairs not to interfere with the police and allow them to set up their tents. The lawyer representing the affected residents of Shukruti will appeal the judge's decision in the appellate court on September 30.

33 families from the village of Shukruti are participating in the ongoing protest near the parliament. They are demanding that Georgian Manganese LLC assess the damages caused by ore mining through the Bureau of Forensic Expertise and provide adequate compensation to the victims so they can relocate to a safe area. A few months ago, large cracks appeared in the middle of Shukruti village, and the ground began to sink.

In the neighboring village of Itkhvisi, in the Gogatishvili and Makhatadze area, the ground caved in at the end of March 2022, burying residential houses. Georgian Manganese denied that the incident was caused by their activities, blaming it instead on ore mining during the Soviet period and natural disasters. The state supported the company’s stance. Local authorities provided rental assistance to those who were left homeless, and a few families who agreed to the terms were granted eco-migrant status.

Residents of Shukruti fear that their village will suffer the same fate as Itkhvisi, as the cracks in the ground are widening and deepening. Houses are damaged or collapsing, making them unsafe to live in; even graves and the village church have been affected. In September, classes did not resume at Shukruti’s public school, as the building has been deemed dangerous and may collapse, based on an expert report obtained by Mtis Ambebi. However, the relevant agencies have not published the expert report.

The residents of Shukruti have been protesting continuously for 190 days at the Korokhnali and Shukruti mines, both of which are now closed. Some of the miners have expressed solidarity with the affected residents of Shukruti.

Georgian Manganese is suing the protest participants, demanding that they hand over their homes and yards so that manganese can be extracted. Additionally, the company is seeking 5.5 million GEL in damages from the participants. At the company's request, the Sachkhere court has seized the homes and plots of land belonging to the protestors, their family members, and close relatives. Five individuals have been fired for participating in the protests. As a result of an investigation initiated at the company's request, three participants have been held criminally liable for disrupting the enterprise’s operations. On September 27, the Sachkhere Prosecutor's Office additionally charged one of the rally organizers, Giorgi Neparidze. A day earlier, Neparidze had announced a protest near the house of the ruling party’s founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, in Mtatsminda, Tbilisi, planned for October 20.