On March 4, 1991, a political rally in Tbilisi was held in front of the Opera and Ballet Theatre, organized by the Ilia Chavchavadze Society. Participants saw a growing threat of tyranny and dictatorship in Georgia and criticized the new government for press restrictions and limitations on radio and television freedom. The rally also condemned the unjustified persecution of the armed group Mkhedrioni.

The demonstrators moved toward Freedom Square, concluding the rally in front of the State Security Committee (KGB) building at the corner of Shio Chitadze Street, where arrested Mkhedrioni leaders Jaba Ioseliani and Zaza Vephkhvadze were held. The crowd reported that Tamaz Tukhishvili, director of the Miriani Poultry Factory in Kaspi district, who had previously donated to the Mkhedrioni fund, had been arrested. To clarify his whereabouts, J. Koplaeishvili and National Congress member Tengiz Sharmanashvili met with the acting chairman of the State Security Committee, Otar Khatiashvili, who confirmed that Tukhishvili was not being held in the KGB detention facility.