In early September 2002, street vendors held a protest in front of Tbilisi City Hall, demanding permission to continue trading inside the metro stations. The demonstrators argued that metro trade was their main source of income, but Tbilisi Mayor Vano Zodelava firmly rejected their demands.

“We offered the vendors relocation to city markets with a one-month exemption from market fees, but they refused,” Zodelava told Inter-Press. According to him, the city government and metro administration took into account the interests of the wider public and decided not to lift the ban on metro trade. The mayor stressed that street vending in the underground threatened passenger safety and therefore could not be allowed.

This Tbilisi metro protest in 2002 highlighted the ongoing conflict between city authorities and vendors over public space usage, safety, and economic survival.