Opposition Says not to Give Up Street Protests

Opposition is now considering “a new tactic” of protests, which will be announced in “next few days,” Levan Gachechiladze, an opposition political, said after meeting with a group of foreign diplomats accredited in Tbilisi.

“We told [the ambassadors] that the ongoing protests will not slow down, until the crisis is resolved in Georgia, until our key demand is not achieved – Saakashvili’s resignation,” he told reporters after the meeting.

Nino Burjanadze, leader of Democratic Movement – United Georgia; Davit Gamkrelidze, leader of the New Rights, part of Alliance for Georgia; Salome Zourabichvili, leader of Georgia’s Way; Eka Beselia, leader of the Movement for United Georgia; Alexi Petriashvili, who is Irakli Alasania’s ally, also participated in the meeting.

Nino Burjanadze said after the meeting that although all the meetings with diplomats were always “positive,” she was especially “satisfied” with this recent one.

“It is clear that they [diplomats] have taken a deeper look into the current political crisis in the country deeply into the current political crisis in the country. No one, except of our President, denies that there is an extremely sharp political crisis in the country,” Burjanadze said.

“I am not going to take even one step back. We will carry out all those actions – even sharp actions, but within the constitution – which are required for continuation of the protests and for achievement of a final result,” she added.

“They [ambassadors] have ascertained that protests will not wane and that this crisis is extremely serious,” Salome Zourabichvili told journalists after the meeting. “It can be said for the first time that they are alarmed about the situation and they themselves noted that the situation has really changed significantly… The way out from this situation is elections and a dialogue about the elections.”

Davit Gamkrelidze said that the opposition was “on the right direction and this road will lead us to our victory.”

Meanwhile, Pikria Chikhradze of the New Rights Party, said in an interview with the Georgian daily, Rezonansi, published on June 6, that the opposition had managed to explain both to the Georgian society and the international community that it was determined for a long-term struggle in frames of constitution “without breaking into nowhere” – a reference to the Rose Revolution when protesters led by then opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili broke into the parliament chamber when then President Shevardnadze was delivering an opening speech at the newly elected parliament’s inaugural session.

“We have done our best to destroy that stereotype, which was established by Saakashvili after the Rose Revolution, that the issues should be solved by bursting into somewhere. Nobody has broken into anywhere and we have disposed the society for a long-term, peaceful struggle. I think, we have demonstrated to everybody both inside and outside the country that no matter how long this struggle will take, we are not going to abandon it without a result. Hence, the authorities should see this reality and act adequately,” Pikria Chikhradze said.

Davit Berdzenishvili of the Republican Party, part of Alliance for Georgia, said on June 5, that the opposition would gain upper hand even in case of early parliamentary elections. 

“Aggregate votes of key opposition parties are significantly more than of the National Movement,” Berdzenishvili told Imedi TV and radio program. “The parliamentary elections are equally unacceptable and dangerous for the authorities like the early presidential elections. So we state it publicly – either early parliamentary or early presidential elections; or both of them simultaneously.

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