In October 2000, employees of Tbilisi’s State Regional Power Plant (TbilSRES) went on strike due to unpaid wages. For a week, they tried unsuccessfully to draw the government’s attention. Eventually, they stormed the plant’s central control room and threatened to cut off electricity across eastern Georgia unless their salaries were paid immediately.

According to Kviris Palitra, unable to disperse the strikers, the authorities spread a rumor that a bomb had been planted in the facility. Security services searched the building but found nothing, while the workers mocked the story and refused to leave. Strikers remained barricaded inside, warning of a complete blackout if their demands were ignored.

The protest ended only after the plant’s foreign management arrived in Tbilisi and provided two months of back pay. Still, six months’ wages — totaling 1.2 million GEL — remained unpaid.