Kutaisi activists get inventive to protest infrastructure failings

Kutaisi citizens are finding novel ways to raise awareness of infrastructural issues in the central Georgian city.

A group of plucky activists branded one of the city’s street potholes with a named photo of the city’s Mayor to highlight their frustration with the ongoing infrastructure problems.

The latest community protest was reported by local news website www.kutaisipost.ge from the city’s central Rustaveli St, where a pole holding up a photograph of Mayor Shota Murghulia was placed over a large pothole in the middle of the road.

Additional signs placed in the hole announced the gap in the road surface as The Murghulia Hole in an attempt to get the attention of local authorities and convince them of the unresolved infrastructural problems in Georgia’s second largest city.

The protest was staged by Mediatori Kutaisi Monitoring Centre – a non-governmental group – whose members spoke to local media about why they were unhappy and the reasons behind the inventive prank.

One member said locals were sick of road issues not being addressed so decided to take action.

Our organisation today showed the city’s self-governance that this large pothole sits on the main entrance to the city. This hole is not the only infrastructural problem creating difficulties for our city. This highlights the fact that our city authorities are asleep,” said group member Lasha Sabashvili.