History of Georgia
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Georgia Portal v t e

The April 9 tragedy (also known as Tbilisi Massacre, Tbilisi tragedy) refers to the events in Tbilisi, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, on April 9, 1989, when an anti-Soviet demonstration was dispersed by the Soviet Army, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries. April 9 is now remembered as the Day of National Unity (Georgian: ეროვნული ერთიანობის დღე), an annual public holiday.

Prelude[link]

The anti-Soviet movement became more active in the Georgian SSR in 1988. Several strikes and meetings were organized by anti-Soviet political organizations in Tbilisi. The conflict between the Soviet government and Georgian nationalists deepened after the so-called Lykhny Assembly on March 18, 1989, when several thousand Abkhaz demanded secession from Georgia and restoration of the Union republic status of 1921–1931. In response, the anti-Soviet groups organized a series of unsanctioned meetings across the republic, claiming that the Soviet government was using Abkhaz separatism in order to oppose the pro-independence movement.

The protests reached their peak on April 4, 1989, when tens of thousands of Georgians gathered before the House of Government on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi. The protesters, led by the Independence Committee (Merab Kostava, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Giorgi Chanturia, Irakli Bathiashvili, Irakli Tsereteli and others) organized a peaceful demonstration and hunger strikes, demanding the punishment of Abkhaz secessionists and restoration of Georgian independence.^[1]

Local soviet authorities lost control over the situation in the capital and were unable to contain the protests. First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party Jumber Patiashvili asked USSR leadership to send troops to restore order and impose curfew.^[1]

The demonstrations[link]

In the evening of April 8, 1989, Colonel General Igor Rodionov, Commander of the Transcaucasus Military District, ordered his troops to mobilize. Moments before the attack by the Soviet forces, the Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II addressed the demonstrators asking them to leave Rustaveli Avenue and the vicinity of the government building due to the danger which accumulated during the day after appearance of Soviet tanks near the avenue. The demonstrators refused to disband even after the Patriarch's plea. The local Georgian militsiya (police) units were disarmed just before the operation.^[1]

On April 9, at 3:45 a.m., Soviet APCs and troops under General Igor Rodionov surrounded the demonstration area.^[1] Later, Rodionov claimed in his interview that groups of Georgian militants attacked unarmed soldiers with stones, metal chains and rods.^[2] The Soviet troops received an order from General Rodionov to disband and clear the avenue of demonstrators by any means necessary.^[3]

Clash[link]

The Soviet detachment, armed with military batons and spades (a favorite weapon of Soviet special forces ^[4]), advanced on demonstrators moving along the Rustaveli Avenue.^[1] During the advance, the soldiers started to attack demonstrators with spades, inflicting injuries both minor and serious to anyone who was struck.^[3] One of the victims of the attack was a 16-year-old girl who tried to get away from the advancing soldiers, but was chased down and beaten to death near the steps of the government building, receiving blows to the head and chest.^{[citation needed]}

She was dragged out of the area by her mother who was also attacked and wounded. This particularly violent attack was recorded on video from the balcony of a building located on the other side of the avenue. The video was used in the aftermath as evidence during Sobchak's Parliamentary commission on investigation of events of April 9, 1989.^{[citation needed]}

The stampede following the attack resulted in the death of 19 people, among them 17 women. Autopsies conducted on the victims concluded the direct cause of death of all those who died, with the exception of one case of serious skull and brain injury, was suffocation (asphyxia) caused by both the compression of the body and the inhalation of chemical substances.^[1]

Official Soviet reports blamed the demonstrators for causing the clash, saying that the troops were attacked with sticks and knives.^[5] According to Tass, the soldiers followed orders not to use their weapons, but that extremists attacked them with pieces of metal, bricks and sticks. Tass described the demonstrators as stirring interethnic strife and calling for the overthrow of the Georgian government. President Gorbachev slammed "actions by irresponsible persons" for loss of life. He said that the disturbances sought to overthrow the Georgian government and stir ethnic tension in Georgia. Foreign ministry spokesman said that the clashes were sparked by "die-hard nationalists, extremists and political adventurists who are abusing democratization to the detriment of our new policy of openness and of our very society." ^[6][7]

CN and CS gas were used against the demonstrators;^[1] vomiting, respiratory problems and sudden paralyses of the nervous system were reported.^[8]

The disarmed police officers attempted to evacuate the panicked group of demonstrators, however a video taken secretly by opposition journalists showed that soldiers did not allow doctors and emergency workers to help the injured people; in fact, even ambulances were attacked by the advancing soldiers^[9] Captured on film, the image of a young man beating a tank with a stick became a symbol of the Georgian anti-Soviet movement.^[10]

On April 10, the Soviet government issued a statement blaming the demonstrators for causing unrest and danger for the safety of the public. The next day, the Georgian TV showed the bodies of the 19 women violently killed, demonstrating alleged brutality by the Soviet soldiers, as the faces of the deceased women were hard to identify due to the facial injuries and blows to the head. The Soviet government blamed the demonstrators for the death of the 20 people, claiming that they had trampled each other while panicking and retreating from the advancing Soviet soldiers.^[10]

A Parliamentary commission on investigation of events of April 9, 1989 in Tbilisi was launched by Anatoly Sobchak, member of Congress of People's Deputies of Soviet Union. After full investigation and inquiries, the commission confirmed the government's claim that the deaths had resulted from trampling, but another contributing factor had been the chemical substances used against the demonstrators. It condemned the military, which had caused the deaths by trying to disperse demonstrators. The commission's report made it more difficult to use military power against demonstrations of civil unrest in the Soviet Union. Sobchak's report presented a detailed account of the violence which was used against the demonstrators and recommended the full prosecution of military personnel responsible for the April 9 event.^[8]

Aftermath[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Photos of the April 9, 1989 Massacre victims (mostly young women) on a billboard in Tbilisi.

On April 10, in protest against the crackdown, Tbilisi and the rest of Georgia went out on strike and a 40-day period of mourning was declared. People brought massive collections of flowers to the place of the killings. A state of emergency was declared, but demonstrations continued.

The government of the Georgian SSR resigned as a result of the event. Moscow claimed the demonstrators attacked first and the soldiers had to repel them. At the first Congress of People's Deputies (May–June 1989) Mikhail Gorbachev disclaimed all responsibility, shifting blame onto the army. The revelations in the liberal Soviet media, as well as the findings of the "pro-Perestroika" Deputy Anatoly Sobchak's commission of enquiry into the Tbilisi events, reported at the second Congress in December 1989, resulted in embarrassment for the Soviet hardliners and army leadership implicated in the event.

Legacy[link]

Georgian woman at the memorial

The April 9 tragedy radicalised Georgian opposition to Soviet power. A few months later, a session of the Supreme Council of Georgian SSR, held on November 17–18, 1989, officially condemned the occupation^{[citation needed]} and annexation of Democratic Republic of Georgia by Soviet Russia in 1921.

On March 31, 1991, Georgians voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from the Soviet Union in a referendum. With a 90.5% turnout, approximately 99% voted in favor of independence. On April 9, the second anniversary of the tragedy, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia proclaimed Georgian sovereignty and independence from the Soviet Union.

A memorial to the victims of the tragedy was opened at the location of the crackdown on Rustaveli Avenue on November 23, 2004.

See also[link]

• Black January
• Revolutions of 1989
• 9 March 1956 massacre in Tbilisi
• 1978 Georgian demonstrations
• January Events
• Jeltoqsan

References[link]

External links[link]

• Resolution of the Baltic Assembly on the Events in Georgia on April 9 1989
• The 9 April 1989 Tragedy and the Abkhazian Question
• A Rustavi 2 documentary about the 1989 events (includes original footage)
• Report of the Sobchak's commission of inquiry (in Russian)

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Mike Malloy
Malloy speaks in Seattle in 2008.
Born	Michael Dennis Malloy (1942-07-01) July 1, 1942 (age 69) Toledo, Ohio
Occupation	Radio personality
Spouse	Kathy Bay (1997–present)
Children	Five grown children, one daughter born in 2004
Website
Mike Malloy's web site

Michael Dennis Malloy (born July 1, 1942) is an American radio broadcaster from Atlanta, Georgia. Previously his show has been carried by WSB (AM) Atlanta, WLS (AM) Chicago, the I.E. America Radio Network, the Air America Radio network, Nova M Radio and the On Second Thought network. He is now self-syndicated. Politically, he describes himself as "a traditional Liberal Democrat doing his part to return the Democratic Party to its Liberal roots."^[1]

Early life and career[link]

Malloy was born in Toledo, Ohio. His mother was a waitress, and his father was a construction cost analyst.^[2] He studied English and political science at North Carolina State University, the University of Toledo, Georgia State University, and Jacksonville University.^[3] In the late 1970s, Malloy relocated to Atlanta and became editor of the alternative weekly newspaper Creative Loafing and actor with the Southern Theater Conspiracy. From 1984 to 1987, he was a news writer with CNN, and he was a writer and producer for CNN International in 2000.^[2][1]

Radio career[link]

Malloy began his radio career in 1985 as an apprentice with Ludlow Porch of WCNN in Atlanta (not related with CNN). From 1986 to 1995, Malloy hosted a late-night show on WSB in Atlanta, until WSB replaced him with the syndicated program of Laura Schlessinger. In 1997, Malloy began to host a show that aired from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. on the Chicago station WLS. Malloy's WLS program was regularly among the top five late-night programs in Chicago. In 1999 and 2000, Talkers magazine ranked Malloy in its Heavy Hundred listing, and Malloy won an Achievement in Radio award for best overnight radio show in Chicago. Malloy left WLS in March 2000. WLS claims that he voluntarily left with mutual consent, but Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn claimed that an executive at the station called Malloy "mean-spirited" in an e-mail.^[2]

His program was syndicated between October 2000 and February 2004 on I.E. America Radio Network. The Mike Malloy Show was aired during the 9PM-12AM (ET) timeslot from 2004 until August 2006 on Air America Radio. From August to October 2006, Malloy could be heard on the Head On Radio Network. The network rebroadcast Malloy programs from his i.e. America and Air America Radio programs nightly at 10:00 PM. The show was heard on Nova M Radio beginning on 30 October 2006. The show was then briefly heard on the On Second Thought network.

Mike Malloy is now self-syndicating his radio program. He is currently being heard in 13 markets across America including one satellite radio channel each on Sirius and XM Satellite Radio services. Direct listener support is enabled through the sale of podcast subscriptions via his website.

See also[link]

• The Mike Malloy Show

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mike Malloy

• Profile of Malloy by Salon (2003)
• Mike Malloy: Angry Voice In The Wilderness: documentary about Malloy
• "The 14 Points of Fascism," vocal narration by Mike Malloy
• Mike Malloy's opinion pieces at the Huffington Post

Wayne LaPierre
Wayne LaPierre in February 2011.
Born	(1948-11-08)November 8, 1948
Education	BA in Education, MA in Government
Alma mater	Siena College, Boston College
Occupation	CEO and Executive Vice President of the NRA, author, television host
Known for	Second Amendment Activism
Home town	Roanoke, VA

Wayne LaPierre (born November 8, 1948),^[1] is an American author and Second Amendment advocate. He is best known for his position as the Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association.

Background[link]

LaPierre graduated from Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, VA in 1967. He received his BA in Education from Siena College in Loudonville, NY and his MA in Government from Boston College. He has been a government activist and lobbyist ever since finishing his MA, including positions on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Political Consultants, the American Conservative Union, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

National Rifle Association Activity[link]

Since 1991, he has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Rifle Association, the largest American gun rights organization. LaPierre joined the NRA in 1977 after working as a legislative aide to a Democratic Virginia Delegate Vic Thomas.

LaPierre has authored several books on weaponry topics, ranging from shooting practices to terrorism to gun safety to crime. He also makes appearances promoting the NRA at gun shows and political events. Citing Democratic candidate John Kerry's history of authoring and supporting gun control legislation, LaPierre actively campaigned against the senator in the 2004 Presidential elections.

In the media[link]

Television[link]

LaPierre hosts Crime Strike, a syndicated weekly television program which advocates gun use for the purpose of self-defense and highlights situations where people have used their guns against criminal suspects.

Online[link]

In October 2006, LaPierre instituted a weekly podcasts on the NRAnews.com website called "What They Didn't Tell You Today." Every weekday, LaPierre gives a short broadcast about gun rights.

Books[link]

• Guns, Crime, and Freedom (1994)
• Shooting Straight: Telling the Truth About Guns in America (2002)
• Guns, Freedom, and Terrorism (2003)
• The Global War on Your Guns (2006)
• The Essential Second Amendment Guide (2007)

Politics[link]

In 2000, LaPierre said President Bill Clinton tolerated a certain amount of violence and killing to strengthen the case for gun control and to score points for his party.^[2] Clinton White House spokesman Joe Lockhart called it "really sick rhetoric, and it should be repudiated by anyone who hears it."^[3]

In 2004, LaPierre debated Rebecca Peters, head of the International Action Network on Small Arms, at King's College London.

References[link]

External links[link]

• NRA Leaders: Wayne LaPierre
• NRAnews.com
• Edited transcript of Rebecca Peters' debate with Wayne LaPierre
• Ruby Ridge documents at TruTV (formerly CourtTV)