The techno revolution of Tbilisi

In Tbilisi, between Friday and Saturday night, the military police conducted a series of armed raids in riot gear on several nightclubs in the Georgian capital, which led to numerous arrests and the closure of the famous Cafè Gallery and BASSIANI clubs.

Just in the latter's post, we read that "about 60 people were arrested" including the cofounders, Tato Getia and Zviad Gelbakhiani and that the police "beat up peaceful demonstrators. There is no doubt that the state is waging a war against the only sphere of independent Georgian culture".

It seems, in fact, that the club has been targeted not as a response by the government to five drug deaths in the last two weeks (none of the tragic deaths occurred on the grounds of either), but because it is a place that protects free expression.

"They are not only places of entertainment, but important and bright spots of free expression, societal development and social changes. They are also important safe spaces for queer youth in the region - many who had to flee the violent prosecution of gays in Checheny found refugee in the club community of Tblisi." Michail Stangl of Bolier Room

The BASSIANI is not only a recurring name in the chronicles of international underground clubbing, but is a stronghold of movements and associations in the forefront of social change, for a more open and tolerant politics and society, against all discrimination and injustice.

In the hours following the police raids, an epic protest was unleashed. Thousands of people took to the streets of Tbilisi also in front of the Parliament, where the demonstrators demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and the Minister of internal affairs and start a rave to the sound of

"We dance together, we fight together".