Police detain four protesting miners from Georgian mining town Chiatura

Four protesting miners from the western Georgian town of Chiatura, known for its manganese mining, were detained by law enforcement officers on charges of causing an intentional minor injury.

Early on Tuesday morning, the protesting miners shared several videos on Facebook, saying that three miners — Giorgi Neparidze, Archil Chumburidze and Merab Saralidze —  were taken from the tents where they were holding a hunger strike, while the fourth detained miner, Tengiz Gvelesiani, was taken from his house.

One protesting miner, Tariel Mikatsadze, said during a Facebook live that the police didn’t let demonstrators film the detention process and used physical force against them as they tried to film.

The miners began their hunger strike in order to draw authorities’ attention to the reorganisation process initiated by the Chiatura Management Company (CMC), which they expect will leave many miners unemployed.

On 22 April, CMC — the management company of Georgian Manganese, a manganese mining company in Chiatura — stated ‘the restoration and reorganisation of mining production in Chiatura has been planned’.

The mine’s operations were suspended in October 2024, however, on 7 March, it was announced that Georgian Manganese and the CMC would no longer resume underground operations in Chiatura at any point in the future due to ‘financial unprofitability’.

Subsequently, the Chiatura Management Company reportedly filed for bankruptcy and laid off 3,500 of its employees.

On Monday, the miners announced that one of their cohort had escalated their hunger strike after the fourth day to a dry hunger strike.

For 61 days, thousands of demonstrators in Chiatura, including miners and their  families, have been preventing the removal of manganese out of Chiatura, and have continued to demand the state’s involvement in mediating the crisis between private companies and miners.

Chiatura Management Company says production will resume only under reorganisation conditions

Miners claim that the company is speaking in the language of ‘ultimatums’ and announcing ‘repressions’.

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Speaking to BM.ge, Mikatsadze said that he was not in Chiatura on Monday, but that he was aware from hearsay that ‘the director of the Shukruti mine, Tengiz Koberidze, insulted the protest participants and called them a “herd of cattle”, which angered the protest participants and they confronted the mine director’.

‘I don’t know for sure whether this altercation is related to the detentions’, he said.

Mikatsadze stated that according to their information, detained demonstrators are in the Kutaisi detention centre.

Protesters have been holding a rally in Chiatura since Tuesday morning and are calling on fellow citizens to support them.

Before four demonstrators were detained, CMC stated that ‘in order to resume production in Chiatura, special groups began entering the closed mines in the morning and assessing the current situation’.

‘During the inspection of the Perevisa mine, organisers of the initiative group and the Shukruti mine picket arrived at the site and verbally confronted the company representatives’.

According to CMC, ‘a group of 30 people blocked the car of the head of the working group, Tengiz Koberidze, who was leaving the Perevis mine. Among them, Giorgi Neparidze, Merab Saralidze, Archil Chumburidze and Tengiz Gvelesiani were particularly active.

‘Koberidze was forcibly removed from the vehicle, verbally abused and pelted with stones, including injuries to the face, and then [they] fled the scene’, the statement claimed.

According to CMC, Koberidze was diagnosed with a jaw–facial fracture and ‘required emergency surgery’.

About an hour later, the pro-government TV channel Imedi published an article about the incident, along with a picture of Koberidze with blood on his face.

The Interior Ministry has stated that the investigation is underway under Article 118, Part 2 of the Criminal Code, which refers to causing an intentional minor injury.

The crime is punishable by up to six years in prison.

The protests against Georgian Manganese, which holds the license for manganese extraction in Chiatura, originally began on 28 February in the centre of Chiatura. At the time, miners repeatedly demanded a meeting with a government representative.

Georgian Manganese is the largest employer in Chiatura.

3,500 reportedly laid off as Georgia’s Chiatura Management Company declares bankruptcy

The company previously announced that it wouldn’t resume underground mining, citing ‘unprofitability’ as protests against the company continue.

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