Pirates of Rustaveli Avenue

Shorena Latatia

I have been used to the fact that my country is always under some kind of suspense and this suspense looks a lot like “Revolution.” The sad thing though (and tragic) is that the lives of people are sacrificed for this cause.

On May 25th, I cannot recall for how many times now “we all proceeded to Rustaveli Avenue and despite all, we could not guess (not even by intuition) that we were facing next human sacrifice. Unfortunately we once again forgot that the human life has the utmost value.

The weirdest thing is that right when the disruption of protest (a raid in reality) started at Rustaveli Avenue, I (who talks about the true values) was watching the Pirates of Caribbean in Rustaveli Theater.

At the end of the movie, the worried employees of the theater came in the hall and told us that the Special Forces were dispersing the demonstrators and we had to wait in the hall for a while. Soon, we heard the sound of rubber bullets and terrible noise from the outside. I was not scared. I just heard the noise approached us and felt it would soon reach the theater hall.

- You are safe in the hall. Nobody can come in here – repeated the theater employees.

Several minutes passed and…

- Is it good to watch a movie, ha?! – A demonstrator ran in the hall spinning a flag pole around. Soon others followed. Approximately 30 demonstrators gathered inside.

We soon felt the smell of tear gas. People started panicking! I got some respirators from the bag which I bought by occasion and passed them over.

The demonstrators stood on the stage with uncertain expectations and the viewers backed to the back rows.

Suddenly I found myself standing next to the newlyweds… The wife was pregnant and almost started to have cramps. The worried husband was calming her down by smoking a cigarette and saying that they should not have come. I passed a respirator to the wife and told her that she could survive a nuclear explosion with this gas mask. Then I felt how serious the situation was and tried not to laugh at my inappropriate joke.

Soon the Special Forces appeared and stood at one of the doors. Meanwhile the demonstrators grouped at another door. We, the viewers of Pirates of Caribbean stood in the upper part of the hall.

- The ones with the ticket can leave! ...

- Oh, the ones with the tickets can leave! ... Where is your ticket? Find your ticket…

I could never imagine that a simple theater ticket could be so meaningful for my life. This feeling was so not like my usual expectation of death!

We passed through the hall entrance holding our tickets up and passed through the corridor of Special Forces nearly to the Public Library in this way.

- Ticket… Where is the ticket?! … Show me the ticket!… Move!... cried the Special Forces.

The demonstrators with their hands tied were lying on the pavement. The traces of blood and smell of tear gas was still present. Police had an entire control over the situation.

Pirates of Caribbean – On Stranger Tides gives a naïve impression on the pirates and wraps them in a romantic mist. The reality is different: the evil pirates – the Special Forces once again reminded us that there is little space for romance in life. On that day, 4 people died near the movie theater Rustaveli (1 policeman and 3 demonstrators), tens of people were injured and approximately 40 citizens are still disappeared!

I still have the ticket that saved me from the evil pirates. Who knows, it might be magic and I may need it again.