1956 Shooting of a demonstration in Tbilisi

60 years ago, on March 10, 1956, on the orders of Nikita Khrushchev, a demonstration in Tbilisi was shot down, the participants of which demanded not to allow criticism of Stalin. The demonstrations, which began on March 5, the anniversary of Stalin's death, were provoked by Khrushchev's speech at the 20th Party Congress condemning the personality cult.

The decision to disperse the demonstrators was made after they put forward demands: to declare March 9 (the day of Stalin's funeral) a non-working day of mourning, to place in local materials about Stalin's life, to show films praising Stalin "The Fall of Berlin" and "Unforgettable 1919th" in cinemas and to invite Marshal Zhu De of the People's Republic of China, who was visiting Tbilisi, to the rally. In addition, there were demands for the resignation of the Soviet government and the withdrawal of Georgia from the USSR.

On the night of March 10, fire was opened on the crowd that had come to the House of Communications to send a telegram to Moscow. Tanks and armored personnel carriers entered the city. According to official figures published much later, 15 people were killed and 54 injured, of which 7 died in hospitals, 200 people were arrested. According to other sources, 375 people were arrested, of which 39 were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, and up to 150 people were killed.