Tbilisi rally: No to annexation

Several thousand people gathered in central Tbilisi to protest against Russia’s attempt to annex Georgia’s breakaway regions today.

The rally "No to Annexation” was organised by opposition United National Movement (UNM). Inspite of the recent statements of the UNM leaders that rally is above the party political interests, the speeches of the party speakers were full of the criticism regarding the ruling coalition Georgian Dream and the Georgian Government.

Photo by N. Alavidze / Agenda.ge

Photo by N. Alavidze / Agenda.ge

Georgia’s ex-president and head of UNM Mikheil Saakashvili, who is wanted by Georgian authorities on multiple criminal charges, addressed the rally via video link from Kiev, Ukraine. 

He said it was now time for the entire nation to stand united and tell ex-Prime Minister and founder of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition Bidzina Ivanishvili that the Georgian nation did not share his dream.

Saakashvili portrayed the current situation in Georgia as a struggle between two "conflicting" models.

"On the one hand, there is Georgia which speaks out loudly against occupation and for our rights, our aspiration to freedom, and on the other hand, they want Georgia, which does not believe that Russia has aggressive plans and intentions against us and other neighbors,” he said.

"On the one hand there is Georgia which is taking a European path, which believes that only this path can lead us to freedom… and on the other hand, there is Georgia which disgracefully coordinates which path to follow with Kremlin messenger [Russia’s deputy foreign minister Grigory] Karasin.”

Photo by N. Alavidze / Agenda.ge

Photo by N. Alavidze / Agenda.ge

UNM said the rally was organised in protest of the Government’s "inaction” to counter the Russian annexation problem.

Meanwhile Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili addressed the nation the day before, saying that "government clearly sees the threat of annexation of Georgia's occupied territories, which undermines Georgia's statehood and unity."

He claimed the Government had employed every international mechanism and addressed international organisations and the international community as a whole, appealing to them to treat this issue with special consideration.

He stressed that he has no doubt that each Georgian citizen aspires to see Georgia's territorial integrity and the country's de-occupation ensured. "This is exactly why it is totally unacceptable when one political party or another gives itself credit for a nationwide protest rally against the country's annexation, this way identifying the notion of the country's unity only with itself."

"Yet, such an attempt is made by people whose policy contributed to the occupation of twenty percent of the country's territories, resulting in the deaths of hundreds, the loss of Kodori, Akhalgori and more than a hundred villages, and in tens of thousands of refugees," PM stated.

As well as carrying the Georgian flag, protesters of the rally also carried Ukrainian, United States, NATO and European Union flags.

The demonstration lasted for an hour and a half and ended peacefully about 7pm with no incidents or controversies.