Tbilisi nightclubs to reopen for New Year’s Eve after 40-day strike

Sev­er­al of Tbilisi’s night­clubs are set to reopen tonight for New Year’s Eve, hav­ing been closed for 40 days in sol­i­dar­i­ty with ongo­ing protests against the country’s government.

Tech­no havens includ­ing BASSIANI, Left Bank and Khi­di will host their first par­ties since the shut­down, which began in the wake of right-wing rul­ing par­ty Geor­gian Dream’s par­lia­men­tary elec­tion win in Octo­ber, and its announce­ment that it would delay Georgia’s EU acces­sion process on Novem­ber 28. The elec­tion has since faced alle­ga­tions of fraud, with the country’s pros­e­cu­tors inves­ti­gat­ing, accord­ing to Al Jazeera.

As protests broke out across the coun­try, sev­er­al of the city’s clubs then urged their com­mu­ni­ties to take to the streets rather than their dance­floors, shut­ter­ing the venues, as well as launch­ing fundrais­ers.

Announc­ing the reopen­ing in a state­ment on Insta­gram, BASSIANI wrote: ​“2024 unfold­ed as a year of pro­found polit­i­cal upheaval and defi­ance. For over a month, BASSIANI has been at the fore­front of resis­tance against a repres­sive and vio­lent sys­tem, assert­ing itself as part of the counter-hege­mo­ny move­ment. This strug­gle echoes a ded­i­ca­tion to forg­ing a new social order ground­ed in free­dom, equal­i­ty and solidarity.

“We lament and express deep grat­i­tude to those who have under­stood the extra­or­di­nary cri­sis grip­ping the coun­try – a con­text that neces­si­tat­ed the dif­fi­cult yet essen­tial deci­sion to close the club over the past month,” it continued.

“We are eter­nal­ly grate­ful to the artists, agen­cies, col­lec­tives, fes­ti­vals, clubs and dancers – both famil­iar and unknown – for invalu­able sup­port and con­tri­bu­tion of resources from every cor­ner of the world. Your names are count­less, and your com­mit­ment is unforgettable.”

Left Bank wrote: ​”Upcom­ing NYE is bound to be any­thing but an ordi­nary cel­e­bra­tion. Amid ongo­ing chal­lenges, we all gath­er at the Par­lia­ment build­ing to wel­come the New Year, with our doors open­ing lat­er than usual.”

Many of Tbilisi’s under­ground clubs have become safe havens for mar­gin­alised com­mu­ni­ties, includ­ing the city’s LGBTQ+ com­mu­ni­ty, while gain­ing a rep­u­ta­tion for being some of the world’s best nightlife venues. They have faced trou­ble with the author­i­ties before, with armed police raid­ing BASSIANI and Café Gallery in 2018, which saw wide­spread protests break out in the city.

Fol­low Isaac on Bluesky.

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