Wars, politics & history

April 9 tragedy

9 April 1989

The April 9 tragedy was the violent dispersal by Soviet troops of a peaceful pro-independence demonstration in Tbilisi, the capital of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. Thousands of people had gathered in front of the Government House for days, calling for Georgia's independence and in protest against separatist demands in Abkhazia. Soldiers with armored vehicles, shovels and toxic gas moved against the crowd in the early morning, and around twenty people, mostly women, were killed, with many more injured. The event caused outrage across Georgia and radicalized the independence movement, which grew stronger, and Georgia declared independence two years later. The date is now commemorated in Georgia as a Day of National Unity.

Open on the timeline

Before and after

More in Wars, politics & history

The era

This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.