Ethnic conflicts which affected on the civil war:
Ethnic minority separatist movements, primarily on the part of the Ossetians and the Abkhaz, demanded full recognition in the new order of the early 90’s. Asserting its newly gained national prerogatives. Georgia responded with military attempts to restrain separatism forcibly. On January 5, 1991 National Guard entered Tskhinvali, South Ossetian capital and fighting broke out in and around the city. The Georgian-Ossetian Conflict was the first major crisis faced by Gamsakhurdia’s government.
Civil unrest, the start:
Activity of the opposition against the authoritarian Government of Gamsakhurdia caused an acute political dispute, which soon turned violent in the end of 1991. Following the police dispersion of a large opposition demonstration in Tbilisi on September 2, several oppositionists were arrested and their offices raided and pro-opposition newspapers were closed. The National Guard of Georgia, the major paramilitary force in the country split into two, pro and anti-Gamsakhurdia factions. Another powerful paramilitary organization, the Mkhedrioni also sided with the opposition.
Revolt:
On 20 December 1991, Kitovani’s fighters returned in force to begin the final onslaught against Gamsakhurdia. The armed oppositionists released Jaba Ioseliani, the leader of Mkhedrioni and mounted barricades in central Tbilisi. On December 22, the rebels seized several official buildings, and attacked the Parliament building where Gamsakhurdia and his supporters were holding the position. Simultaneously, the rebels already controlling most of the city, brutally suppressed pro-Gamsakhurdia protests in and around Tbilisi. They fired on the crowds, killing and wounding several people. On 6 January 1992, President Gamsakhurdia with other members of his government was forced to flee first to Armenia and then to Chechnya, where he led a form of government-in-exile for the next 18 months. Within several days of the fighting the main boulevard in the city, Rustaveli Avenue, had been destroyed and at least 113 people were killed.
