Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
For several days the main avenues of Tbilisi have been guarded by police. There are no armored vehicles, people are not obliged to show their passports, but there are more policemen than usual – dozens of police vehicles are parked along the streets without obvious reason. However, the police have a task to prevent new conflicts between two youth groups which are registered as non-governmental organizations – “Free Zone” and “Free Generation.”
The first one supports Mikhail Saakashvili and his United National Movement, and the second one supports Georgian Dream and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, i.e. the current authorities. Their ideological disputes lead to regular street fights with the use of knives and other means.
In general, Tbilisi youngsters are a complicated phenomenon. They almost need no reason for fighting. Someone said a rude word to someone one day; someone stole somebody’s girlfriend. And they start to fight “group against group.” The traditional competition between two elite Tbilisi districts – Vake and Vera – plays its role as well.
But it is one thing if they fight because of an incident at a college mate’s birthday party, but another thing if there is a “legal” reason for fighting – politics and disputes about the development of the country. Moreover, politicians are involved in the disputes, and it gains a pan-national character and scale; while “deeds” are broadcast by all TV channels as the main event of a day or even a week.
There is no sense in finding out who started it. Free Generation states that their ideologist, a journalist of the Tbilisi newspaper Asaval-Dasavali, Zaza Davitaja, was beaten by members of Free Zone. A reason for the beating were articles which said that “Misha Saakashvili should be carried from the U.S. in a suitcase, just as happened when Mossad carried Adolf Eichmann from Argentina, who was later hanged in an Israeli prison.”
When they found out that their supporter had been beaten, about 50 activists of Free Generation (or Free Georgians, as they are often called) headed to an office of Free Zone on Beijing Street. There were no policemen, and after a mass fight on the street, the Free Georgians burst into the office, beat all the men in the building and broke furniture and windows.
The police came when it was over. MPs from the United National Movement came before the police, but some of them were also beaten by youngsters. Later, one of the closest supporters of former president Saakashvili, Koba Khabazi, posed on TV, showing a blooded T-shirt and bruises on his face.
The police arrested several people, but the incident wasn’t over. The next day fights continued. However, the police began to act more responsibly. Free Zone managed to gather hundreds of its supporters. So there was no second crushing of the office. Young people stood in front of each other, were separated by policemen and shouted obscene words, addressing “the bloody gang of Saakashvili” and “Putin’s servant Ivanishvili.”
There is no chance for a compromise or a dialogue. Young people have radical moods: either us or them; even though Georgia has experience of civil war of 1991-1993, when street fights between groups turned into an awful tragedy.
Politicians and representatives of the intelligentsia from both camps have similar radical views. The well-known poet Rezo Amashukeli told Vestnik Kavkaza that Free Zone is “Saakashvili’s fascist brigade.” Amashukeli is sure that the “brigade” is necessary for the former president to return to politics and capture power again. “They are preparing for a new overthrow; they want to organize a new Maidan,” the poet says, referring to a recent interview by the Minister for Interior Affairs, Alexander Chikidze, who spoke about “storing tyres for burning” and “the invitation to specialists from Kiev for organizing street fights.”
On the other hand, an MP Nugzar Tsiklauri told Vestnik Kavkaza that he “came to a peaceful meeting of Free Zone” to protect Georgia from Russia.
It seems the clash between Tbilisi youth groups will maintain this course, turning from a regular youngsters’ fight into an epochal geopolitical competition between the U.S. and Russia, the West and the East. However, ordinary Tbilisi residents who are tired of infinite revolutions and wars cannot be happy about such an “ideologically-valued character.”
