Demonstrators from Shukruti, who have been protesting for almost six months to raise awareness of the damage caused by manganese mining under their village, have moved their protest to Tbilisi. Police did not allow them to set up their tent in front of the parliament building.

On Wednesday evening, several dozen demonstrators arrived in Tbilisi from the village of Shukruti, west Georgia. They asked the state to pay attention to their problems and their protest.

Residents of Shukruti have been actively protesting for several years to raise awareness of the damage caused by Georgian Manganese, the company that owns the license to operate mines in the Chiatura region. In particular, the residents have spoken out about how mining has destroyed houses and spoiled the land for agriculture. The protestors also claim that Georgian Manganese did not pay adequate compensation for any of this damage.

Among the participants of the protest, seven people were on their twelfth day of hunger strike. Five of them had additionally sewed their lips together as part of their protest action. 

[Read more: Three in Shukruti sew lips shut in protest against manganese mining]

After arriving in Tbilisi, the demonstrators appealed to around three dozen people who were gathered in front of the parliament building, as well as to the general public and the central government, with a request that they pay attention to their protest.

The demonstrators also asked the government to get involved in the mediation process, and make the company fulfill their demands.

Speaking to OC Media, Giorgi Neparidze, a Shukruti resident, said that they were not going to stop the protest until their demands were met.

‘As a result of the illegal mining of ore by the company Georgian Manganese, our living environment is destroyed, not only the house, the entire village territory is destroyed: graves, a newly built church.

‘We tried our best to reach the central government from the very first day of the process so that the central government would be involved in solving this problem together with the Georgian Manganese company, but unfortunately, we are being ignored from all sides’.

Neparidze drew a parallel with the homophobic draft law adopted by the parliamentary majority in its second reading last week — ‘on the protection of family values ​​and minors’ — and asked MPs to come to the demonstrators and ‘explain to us what family values ​​mean to them’.

‘Each one of us protects our own house, the graves of our fathers and grandfathers, the church, we protect our families, and if family values ​​mean anything other [to MPs], they should come and tell us and make us understand’, Neparidze said.

Though police rejected their request to pitch a tent in front of the parliament building, the demonstrators did not leave, and instead spent the night outside in the open air. 

The government has not commented on the calls and requests of the demonstrators.