During July and August 2010, police forcibly evicted hundreds of displaced persons from collective centers in Tbilisi. Around the same time, City Hall began enforcing a ban on street trading. Many of the displaced had relied on street vending for their livelihood, and these combined measures triggered a wave of protests by internally displaced persons (IDPs) and street vendors — sometimes held separately, but often jointly.

The protests began on August 4. Under the 39°C summer heat, displaced families gathered in front of Tbilisi City Hall demanding housing. Some had been living in rented apartments since the Abkhazian War, while others occupied former collective centers or abandoned buildings. Evictions continued across the city, and so did the protests.

“They knocked on our doors at six in the morning without any warning,” said Iza Gvajaia, an IDP from Abkhazia, on August 13. “They told us we had two hours to leave. When we asked where we should go, they said, ‘We don’t know — go wherever you want.’”

The first joint protest of IDPs and street vendors took place on August 12 in front of the president’s residence in Avlabari, organized by Conservative Party activist Lasha Chkhartishvili. Street vendors opposed the ban on street trading, as they operated without paying taxes and feared that moving into formal markets would increase their expenses. They also distrusted City Hall’s proposal to temporarily cover market rental fees until the end of the year. Street vending had been banned in Tbilisi several years earlier, but enforcement had fluctuated — until the summer of 2010, when the government once again tightened control.

Protests continued on August 19, when demonstrators marched from the presidential administration to Parliament. Clashes broke out between protesters and police. Among those detained were Aleksandre Shalamberidze, a leader of the People’s Party, and Levan Chitidze from the “ARA” movement. Neither of Georgia’s national television networks covered the confrontation on Rustaveli Avenue. Both men were later fined 400 GEL each.

By mid-August, seven displaced persons began a hunger strike in front of the Ministry for Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation, and Refugees. Four others sewed their mouths shut. They demanded housing in Tbilisi and said the ministry had neither offered compensation nor alternative housing, nor had anyone contacted them.

On August 31, the ministry reiterated its plan to relocate recently evicted IDPs to rural areas, where they would receive housing and long-term government support. However, most displaced persons rejected relocation, citing a lack of employment opportunities outside the capital.

On October 25, protesters demanded the resignation of Minister Koba Subeliani. In response, the ministry’s chief of staff, Valeri Kopaleishvili, pointed to the state program offering legal ownership of housing in rural areas. The protesters claimed, however, that the facilities offered to them were already fully occupied.

The ministry proposed resettling IDPs in villages across Abasha, Khobi, Chkhorotsku, Tsalenjikha, Zugdidi, and Gurjaani districts — a total of 12 sites where apartments would be transferred into private ownership. On October 29, IDPs received written explanations about the proposal from the ministry and the UNHCR, with five days to decide whether to accept.

The protests took a tragic turn on October 27, when a 46-year-old woman attempted self-immolation outside the ministry. She poured gasoline on herself and set herself on fire, dying from her burns on November 18. The ministry responded: “Such extreme actions cannot bring results. Assistance to IDPs is being provided gradually, which requires patience.”

On December 17, around 300 displaced persons gathered outside Parliament wearing signs reading “I am a refugee.” As a result of continued protests, the government postponed further evictions until January 15, though this offered little relief — as many IDPs said it was inhumane to be forced out in the middle of winter without clear alternatives.

On December 21, IDPs once again gathered on Rustaveli Avenue. Many lived with relatives or in temporary shelters and demanded an end to evictions from state-designated buildings where they had been placed years earlier.

Five days before the January 15 deadline, the political party Georgian Troupe (Kartuli Dasi) published the results of its monitoring of the eviction process and appealed to Parliament Speaker David Bakradze to convene an emergency meeting of the Anti-Crisis Council. According to party leader Jondi Bagaturia, the monitoring revealed two main issues: misallocated compensation and the government’s excessive delay in granting IDP status to post-war refugees.

On January 12, IDPs held another protest in front of Parliament to draw attention to ongoing evictions, followed by another rally on January 15 with the same demands. The final protest covered by the media took place on January 26, when demonstrators once again called for a halt to evictions.