Tbilisi: Roses from the Rubble, Part 1
By HG Masters
One of the halls of the Expo Georgia campus where the Tbilisi Art Fair (TAF) was held, with a poster of a drawing by Ivan Yazykov (shown at NK Gallery). All photos by HG Masters for
The techno-fueled protests following police raids on the Tbilisi nightclubs Bassiani and Café Gallery put the youth of Georgia in the international spotlight in mid-May. Energetic, alternative, LGBTI-friendly crowds danced in defiance on Rustaveli Avenue outside parliament as riot police tried to prevent counter-demonstrating, neo-fascist and conservative religious groups from attacking them. “This country belongs to us,” the ravers and their allies shouted. “We don’t want another Putin,” signs read, as they demanded the resignation of the prime minister and minister of internal affairs.
