Vendors of Tbilisi Central Open Market Protest Local Gov’t Decision Ordering them to Vacate Premises
On July 30, the vendors of one of the largest and oldest open-air markets in Tbilisi – the Deserters’ Bazaar – blocked the streets in protest against an alleged decision by the Tbilisi City Hall to turn the area into a shopping mall. It is not immediately clear whether the demand to leave the area is due to the decision to build the mall or to make repairs to the existing infrastructure, as bazaar administration representative who spoke to the protesting crowd, claimed. According to the vendors, they were informed last night that they would have to vacate the area between August 10 and 15.
The vendors are demanding a meeting with the mayor of Tbilisi, Kakha Kaladze, saying that the order to leave deprives them of their only source of income.
“Let [Mayor] Kaladze come here. I appeal to Bidzina Ivanishvili: don’t make us all refugees, don’t give us all a reason to leave our homeland… I want to appeal to [PM] Kobakhidze: the empty words that there is… [a double digit] economic growth [is not enough], come and ask us what state we are in… They have taken away our right to life, I am a slave, a slave, I have never felt so much like a slave as I feel now,” – one of the merchants told Mtavari TV.
Meanwhile, the representative of the bazaar administration told the protesters that it was necessary to evacuate the area so that repairs to the building could be carried out, which he said would take six months, but he did not give the vendors any guarantee that they would be able to return to the area after the repairs. The vendors say they will not leave the territory and will not move to the outskirts of the city, as proposed by the local authorities.
The merchants said they had telephone conversations with the representatives of the Tbilisi City Hall, who promised to meet them, but they didn’t keep their promises.
After blocking the street for several hours the vendors reached an agreement with the police to unblock the streets for the time being, but they promise to block the central streets of Tbilisi if their demands aren’t met.
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