On August 8, 2010, internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in the former Hotel Abkhazia began a protest in front of the building. The hotel, which had burned several years earlier, had housed families displaced from the Tskhinvali region since the 1990s. They opposed the conditions offered by the Ministry for Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation, and Refugees of Georgia in exchange for eviction and demanded a postponement of their removal. The IDPs had received eviction notices on August 5, giving them until August 15 to leave.

The soot-stained balconies of the building were covered with banners reading “SOS,” “Don’t evict us illegally,” and “We are also children of Georgia.”

The hotel housed 267 displaced families—over 700 people. None of them had occupied the space illegally; the hotel was officially designated as a compact settlement site, and their IDs listed their address as 25 Vazha-Pshavela Avenue, Hotel Abkhazia.

Eka Gulua, head of the ministry’s press service, explained that the building had long been in private ownership and that residents had been informed. In exchange for eviction, the ministry offered either $10,000 in local currency or apartments in Rustavi, which were under renovation and expected to be ready by the end of November. Until then, the ministry promised to cover their rent.

The residents denied these claims, saying they had not been informed where they would live in the meantime, and that $10,000 per family was not enough to buy housing. They argued that accepting the government’s offer would worsen their living conditions.

On August 10, the displaced families gathered outside the Ministry for IDPs, Accommodation, and Refugees. The following day, August 11, they protested in front of the Public Defender’s Office. The evictions from the Hotel Abkhaziacontinued despite the protests.

In the end, some of the nearly 300 displaced families left voluntarily, while around 40 families were removed from the building by police pressure. Of the total, 142 families accepted the $10,000 offer, while others refused both options, including relocation to Rustavi with temporary rent assistance.

In 2023, it was announced that a multifunctional complex called Sakeni would be constructed on the site of the former Hotel Abkhazia.