“It’s really hard to be against this whole machine of police and government,” Gelbakhiani said. “We are just 28-year-olds who are trying to make this country developed and popular around the world. But our government is trying to politically kill us.”

He said that the club was also regularly trolled by far-right activists online. “There are some unofficial Facebook pages where they post our photos and say that we are drug dealers, to create this fake anger against us,” he said.

But despite the pressure on the club, Gelbakhiani said he was determined to keep going.

“We are first activists and then club owners,” he said. “We do not do this as a business thing. We want to implement our ideas through the club. We cannot just sit in the office and watch as this craziness happens in the country.”