In early November 1997, displaced persons living in the Kutaisi hotels “Ailamasa” and “Mtis Broli,” together with local residents, blocked a central street in Kutaisi. Protesters demanded the immediate payment of pensions and the restoration of electricity and water supplies. They reported that pensions had not been issued for two months and that they had endured almost three months without electricity or running water.

The demonstrators were met by the president’s representative in Imereti, Temur Shashiashvili, and Kutaisi’s deputy mayor, Onise Ugrekhelidze. Officials promised that the demands would be fulfilled in the shortest possible time. Following these assurances, residents lifted the blockade, bringing the Kutaisi protest to an end.