On May 24, 2000, members of the Cooperative Housing Construction Rights Protection Association staged a protest in front of the Ministry of Finance. They argued that the state debt owed to cooperative housing would be affected by that year’s budget sequestration. Protesters demanded a meeting with the newly appointed Finance Minister, Zurab Noghaideli, to explain their concerns and ask that the sequestration not touch these funds.

After hours of waiting, the association’s president and several members of the cooperative were received not by the minister himself, but by Malkhaz Berberashvili, head of the Department of Domestic Debt. Through Berberashvili, the finance minister sent word that he was not yet familiar with the issue and therefore could not respond to their questions that day. He promised, however, to review the matter and meet them within two days.

The problem remained unresolved, and the association members continued their protests into June 2000. According to the newspaper “Kviris Palitra,” their traditional protest march route included stops at the State Chancellery, Parliament, and the Ministry of Finance. Demonstrators carried banners that read: “Return the money we paid for housing construction!”and “Government, fear the wrath of the people.”