Tbilisi Massacre — Soviet Troops Kill Georgian Protesters

Soviet interior ministry troops and paratroopers used sharpened sapper spades and CS gas to disperse a peaceful pro-independence demonstration in Tbilisi, Georgia, on 9 April 1989, killing at least 21 people — mostly young women — and injuring hundreds more. Gorbachev later claimed he had not personally ordered the crackdown, but a Soviet parliamentary commission found military commanders had used disproportionate force against unarmed civilians.