Podcast | Shukruti’s last stand against Georgian Manganese

4 October 2024

The residents of Shukruti, a village in Georgia’s western Chiatura region, have been protesting mining under their village carried out by Georgian Manganese for years. In September, they relocated their protest to Georgia’s Parliament in Tbilisi, demanding that the government intervene in their dispute with the mining company.

Those protesting around the clock in front of parliament are constantly exposed to the elements as the weather grows colder, with at least six of them on hunger strike.

This week, we spoke with OC Media’s co-director and journalist Mariam Nikuradze about the conditions of the protesters and how the authorities have been treating them in Tbilisi, and to the Social Justice Center’s Salome Shubladze about their demands and the ongoing legal dispute between the protesters and Georgian Manganese.

Dying on the steps of parliament — Georgia’s Shukrutians make last bid for their homes

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The Zestaponi Ferroalloy Plant in May 2014. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Chiatura Manganese Mines

Georgian Manganese to stop work at Chiatura mines and ferroalloy plant

OC Media

••2 min read

The Zestaponi Ferroalloy Plant and all manganese mines in Chiatura, both owned by the mining company Georgian Manganese, have temporarily stopped work until 1 March 2025. On Thursday, Georgian Manganese published a statement saying that until 1 March, a temporary management regime would operate at the Zestaponi Ferroalloy Plant. The plant is Georgia’s largest silicomanganese processing plant. Georgian Manganese is the largest mining and ferroalloy manufacturing company in Georgia, where

Protesters packing up to leave after camping out in front of Georgia’s parliament building for 43 days. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Chiatura Manganese Mines

Shukruti demonstrators leave Tbilisi after fruitless protest

OC Media

••2 min read

Residents of Shukruti protesting against Georgian Manganese have ended their protest in Tbilisi after two weeks of unsuccessful negotiations. The protesters had demanded an assessment by the National Forensics Bureau of their property, as well as to receive adequate compensation from the company for the destruction of their homes during mining operations under the village in Chiatura, western Georgia. One of the protesters, Tamuna Kupatadze, told OC Media that they could not agree with th

Shukruti protesters sleeping under rain outside the parliament. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Chiatura Manganese Mines

Dying on the steps of parliament — Georgia’s Shukrutians make last bid for their homes

Mariam Nikuradze

••7 min read

After over a month on hunger strike, mostly on the steps of Georgia’s parliament, residents of the village of Shukruti are facing declining health and plummeting temperatures, with little hope of saving their village from destruction. ‘I don’t think I’ll witness my child growing up. I don’t have much energy left in me, maybe a few days? I don’t know’, says Giorgi Bitsadze, 33. Bitsadze has always been the funny one, cracking endless jokes to friends, family, and anyone he happens to meet.

Protest of Shukruti residents outside the parliament. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Chiatura Manganese Mines

Georgian Manganese–linked company attacks critics and media covering Shukruti hunger strike

OC Media

••6 min read

A company that has been linked to mining firm Georgian Manganese has claimed that people on hunger strike over the destruction of their homes are being ‘fully managed’ by NGOs and media organisations, including OC Media. Chiatura Management Company stated on Thursday that they had ‘reasonable suspicions’ that the demonstrators were ‘backed by non-governmental organisations that are also directly connected to radical political parties, which in turn use the protests for their own narrow party i