Tbilisi club Bassiani co-founder’s home raided by police amid resistance to “authoritarian” government

Tbilisi police raided the home of Bassiani co-founder Tato Getia earlier this week.

The venue’s team shared the news on Instagram, reporting that Getia’s pregnant wife was targeted in the 29th April raid, during which a child was also in the home, over Getia’s connections to the democratic reform and non-violent activist Shame Movement. “The terror carried out today, early morning, in the presence of a child, targeting the pregnant wife of BASSIANI’S co-founder, a member of the Shame Movement, signals the intensification of this violence and stands as another clear example of the ongoing strategy to suppress the resistance“, Bassiani’s statement read.

Bassiani criticised the “illegitimate” ruling Georgian Dream party government’s “repressive laws, which completely denied the country’s constitution and completely destroyed the fundamental principles of a fair state.” “More than 150 days have passed since the streets of Tbilisi were seized by continuous protest and resistance,” the statement opened, “a civic uprising born in response to the falsification of the people’s free will in elections, the deliberate sabotage of Georgia’s European integration, the expanding grip of Russian influence, and unleashing of an unprecedented wave of repressive measures aimed at silencing dissent.”

Tbilisi’s club scene has been organising in the face of the Georgian Dream party’s “repressive”, “restrictive”, “censor[ing]” and “undermining” laws, including an anti-LGBTQ+ bill in October 2024, with collective statements supporting mass protests and defiant queer parties. 

Learn more about Tbilisi’s underground club scene in this 2024 BBC documentary.

Tbilisi club Left Bank launched a GoFundMe campaign towards the venue’s continued survival amidst the political unrest. Revisit co-founder Gacha Bakradze’s On Cue mix and interview from 2023.

Read Bassiani’s statement in full on the venue’s website and via Instagram below.