In 1996, the “Abkhazia” Hotel on Vazha-Pshavela Avenue in Tbilisi, which housed displaced persons from South Ossetia (then referred to in the press as “refugees from Samachablo”), was destroyed by fire. On May 7, 1996, the displaced residents held a sit-in protest outside the burned hotel under the slogan “Samachablo is Georgia.” Their main demand was for the Georgian government to stop negotiations with the Ossetian side, which were being conducted with Russian mediation.

Protesters rejected the proposed settlement plan, which they said restarted the conflict resolution process “from zero.” They considered this unacceptable, as it would put returning Georgians (if they were allowed back at all) in an even more discriminatory position than before. They argued that the region’s resources would remain in Ossetian hands, while Georgians would be reduced to serving as their labor force.

According to the newspaper Tavisupali Sakartvelo (Free Georgia), protesters also voiced social demands. They believed the fire was a deliberate act of sabotage and accused authorities of deliberately delaying the investigation. Victims of the blaze were left in extreme poverty, with no housing, no livelihood, and, as the newspaper reported, “they do not even have the means to obtain Georgian passports, and as a result, they are no longer considered citizens of Georgia.”