page_title: April 9 tragedy
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: April 9 tragedy / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: Photos of the April 9, 1989 Massacre victims (mostly females) on billboard in Tbilisi Eesti: Thbilisi veretöös hukkunud العربية: صور لضحايا مذبحة 9 أبريل 1989 على لوحة في تبليسي
context_page_description: The April 9 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 21 deaths and hundreds of injuries. April 9 is now remembered as the Day of National Unity, an annual public holiday.
context_section_description: 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.
caption: Photos of the April 9, 1989, Massacre victims (mostly young women) on a billboard in Tbilisi.
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