Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze and Georgian lawmakers visited the April 9 Memorial in front of the Georgian Parliament building at the central Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi. They laid tulips to the memorial.

Irakli Kobakhidze, Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party, laid a wreath. The President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, also paid tribute to the memory of those killed on April 9, 1989.

“Bringing tulips and visiting memorial do not mirror the respect for the heroes of April 9, but the fact that we respect the spirit of April 9 does. It is unity, a commitment to independence, a full realization of what these people fought for. Therefore, please respect this day with modesty,” said Salome Zourabichvili.

On April 9, 1989, the Soviet Army brutally dispersed the anti-Soviet peaceful protest at the Parliament building in Tbilisi. Twenty-one peaceful protesters was killed, hundreds were injured and poisoned by some unknown gas. Two years later, on the same day, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia proclaimed Georgian sovereignty and independence from the Soviet Union. April 9 is the Day of National Unity.