Georgia, a proud nation in the Caucasus that went to war with Russia in 2008, is no stranger to conflict. But a weekend assault by sausage-wielding attackers at a vegan cafe in central Tbilisi is fanning concerns that a simmering culture war could be intensifying.

The attack began Sunday evening at the bohemian Kiwi Café — a popular spot for foreigners and Georgians alike — when, witnesses say, more than a dozen men carrying slabs of meat on skewers suddenly showed up and began pelting patrons with grilled meat, sausages and fish.

Witnesses writing on social media said that customers at the cafe, who were watching an animated science fiction sitcom called “Rick and Morty,” felt intimidated by the men, who refused to leave. The cafe referred to the attackers, some of whom wore sausages around their necks, as anti-vegan “extremists.”

“A group of people who prepared an anti-vegan provocative action, entered and started to be violent,” said a post on the cafe’s Facebook page. “They pulled out some grilled meat, sausages, fish and started eating them and throwing them at us, and finally they started to smoke.” It added, “They were just trying to provoke our friends and disrespect us.”

The cafe said that it called police, but that the assailants fled and no one was arrested.

Who is behind the attacks remains unclear, and analysts cautioned it was too early to say whether the incident was a violent prank, a revolt against veganism or part of a nationalist attack on the freewheeling Western liberal values epitomized by the cafe.

But the cafe said in a statement that the same group of men had come to the neighborhood at night last month and asked a “friend in the next shop” if gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people hung out at the cafe.

That has led some analysts to suggest that the attack should be seen against the backdrop of a continuing cultural battle as the country, a former Soviet republic long pulled between East and West, seeks to draw closer to the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, even as some conservative forces push back at perceived encroaching liberalism.

Three years ago a gay pride march in Tbilisi, the capital, was disrupted by protesters, including Orthodox priests.

“We don’t need Sodom and Gomorrah,” read some signs, and some protesters wielded stinging nettles.

“We have been seeing in Georgia, the growth of nationalists — fanned by Russia — who are questioning foreign Western values such as gay marriage or gay rights being imposed on the country,” said Giorgi Gogia, the south Caucasus director at Human Rights Watch in Tbilisi. “A majority of the country are pro-EU and pro-NATO. But Georgia remains a conservative country, the Georgian Orthodox church is very influential, and there is pushback against foreign influence.”

He added, “The Kiwi Café attracts hipsters, gays, people who are different, and they symbolize liberal Western values.”

The country’s governing Georgian Dream coalition, which supports closer ties with the West, has recently moved to define marriage in the country’s Constitution exclusively as a union of a man and a woman, a move that Gogia said was calculated to appeal to more conservative voters ahead of parliamentary elections in October.

At the same time, under pressure from the EU, Georgia has adopted laws that explicitly forbid discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation.

Georgia celebrated its independence day Thursday, a few days before the cafe attack. A group of nationalists was seen on the streets of Tbilisi, chanting, “Georgians for Georgia.” For some, the scene recalled the ethnic enmities that were stirred after Georgia declared independence from Russia in 1991.

Throughout Europe, vegan cafes have become synonymous with the counterculture. In April, riot police were called in to break up a crowd of aubergine and avocado lovers as several hundred hungry hipsters converged for the opening of the Dandy Diner, a vegan restaurant in Berlin.

The Kiwi Café said it remained committed to equality for all.

“In spite of the situation and everyday negative attitude to us and other people, who visit us, cafe is continuing to work and is ready to accept all costumers regardless of nationality, race, appearance, age, gender, sexual orientation, religious views, etc.,” its Facebook page said. “Equality is the most important thing for us. Animal liberation! Human liberation!”

© 2016 The New York Times Company