Thousands of opposition supporters rallied on Sunday in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, as the Black Sea nation’s government faces mounting accusations of backsliding on democracy.
Demonstrators gathered outside the Georgian parliament for a rally organized by the nation’s main opposition force, the United National Movement (UNM), founded by jailed former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili.
Protesters waved Georgian, Ukrainian and EU flags, and held a huge banner that read: “For European future.”
Photo: AFP
The crowd chanted “Long live Misha,” referring by his diminutive to Saakashvili, who is serving a six-year prison term for abuse of power — a conviction that international rights groups have condemned as politically motivated.
Doctors have said the pro-Western reformer is at risk of death from a litany of serious conditions which he developed in custody.
The ruling Georgian Dream party’s government faces accusations of jailing opponents, silencing independent media, covertly collaborating with the Kremlin and leading the nation astray from its EU membership path.
Addressing the rally, UNM chairman Levan Khabeishvili listed protesters’ demands that included the “liberation of political prisoners and implementing reforms” demanded by the EU as a condition for granting Tbilisi formal candidate status.
“[The] Georgian government is being controlled from Moscow and our obligation is to save our homeland from Russian stooges,” former Georgian president Giorgi Margvelashvili told the crowd.
“We are freedom-loving people, part of the European family, we reject Russian slavery,” he said.
One of the demonstrators, 27-year-old painter Luka Kavsadze, said: “Our struggle will be peaceful, but uncompromising and will lead us to where we belong — the European Union.”
Last month, tens of thousands took to the streets in Tbilisi after parliament gave initial backing to a draft law “on foreign agents,” similar to the legislation used in Russia to suppress dissent.
The bill, which has sparked strong criticism from the EU and the US, was dropped under pressure from street protests that saw police use tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowds.
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