Georgian Youth Reclaim Tbilisi Sidewalks for Pedestrians

Citizens of the Georgian capital often complain that Tbilisi has become a city for cars, not for people, where sidewalks are used as parking and even on occasion as additional traffic lanes.

Yet at the beginning of this week some young Georgians found a way to reclaim the city sidewalks. They laid out four tires across the pavement, filled them with earth and flowers and left a letter to neighboring shops asking them to take care of the flowers and water them.

Later, the Guerrilla Gardening Movement in Tbilisi has joined the effort to reclaim the sidewalks with the 'flower tires' and free them for pedestrians. Yesterday, members of the Movement were fined 150 Gel by police for 'littering' the city center with old tires.

“Parking is not allowed in this area, and yet they [cars] are still parked here. We tried to impose a nice partisan order," Guerrilla Gardening Movement wrote on their Facebook page.

"We are going to appeal the fine imposed on us. It was not littering. We just placed tires; we did not litter the street. Chavchavadze Ave was selected as a venue because there was no parking allowed but cars are still standing [in the way of pedestrians]. As soon as we arrived and began our activity, five police crews stopped in front of us. We got the impression that this was an attempt at intimidation. Therefore, we intend to appeal," Guerrilla Gardening Movement representative Nata Peradze told to Liberal magazine.

Tamar Svanidze