Opposition UNM holding rally in Batumi
Batumi is one of the five self-governing cities where the municipal run-offs will be held on October 30. Photo: Eka Lortkipanidze/RFERL
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The opposition United National Movement (UNM) party is holding a rally in the Black Sea town of Batumi.
Local leader of the party Mirdat Kamadadze said the ruling Georgian Dream party is in minority in Batumi City Council (Sakrebulo).
This means that Batumi has said no to Bidzina Ivanishvili, nihilism and hispair”, Kamadadze addressed the crowd.
There is a week ahead of our final victory and the coalition city hall and multi-party majority in city council, which means that important decisions in this town will be made with your involvement”, he added.
In his address to the crowd, UNM mayoral candidate Giorgi Kirtadze thanked his supporters, who have joined today’s rally.
But the special thanks to one person watching us on TV, who loves our city most of all, encourages us most and needs our support now”, Kirtadze referred to ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.
UNM member Khatia Dekanoidze who runs for Kutaisi mayor's position in the run-offs also said that today’s rally aimed to show their opponents - the Georgian Dream party - how many they are.
Ex-president Saakashvili has meanwhile tweeted:
Streets of #Batumi, Georgia at the moment demanding freedom to political prisoner #MikheilSaakashvili pic.twitter.com/BYTjw6RrL3
— Mikheil Saakashvili (@SaakashviliM) October 23, 2021
UNM founder Mikheil Saakahsvili, who is currently holding Ukrainian citizenship, was detained in Tbilisi on October 1, a day ahead of the municipal elections.
Facing seven different charges, including the illegal crossing of the state border, Saakashvili remains on a hunger strike at No. 12 penitentiary facility in Rustavi.
The opposition United National Movement (UNM) claims that the government of Georgia is preparing a ‘special operation’ in the western Georgian region of Samegrelo to detain former policemen. Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has denied the UNM’s claims, calling them ‘pure lies’.
Georgian former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1 after eight years in political exile, has demanded the Georgian Dream (GD) government take him to court, where he will provide ‘all true information’ about him both for the international community and the Georgian people.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili says the country’s currently arrested former president, Mikheil Saakashvili, ‘is trying to imitate Adolf Hitler, but he is a fake Hitler.’
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili says that the nomination of a shadow cabinet for Tbilisi by United National Movement (UNM) opposition party head and the party’s Tbilisi mayoral candidate, Nika Melia, ‘is another lie and an attempt to mislead the public.’ Melia stated yesterday that after he wins the mayoral run-off on October 30, his deputies will be Lelo opposition party founder Mamuka Khazaradze, Girchi-More Freedom party head Zurab Japaridze, Droa leader Elene Khoshtaria, and opposition member Irakli Abesadze.
Lawyers of ex. president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili demand he be treated in a civil hospital and not in prison as his condition is allegedly deteriorating. Saakashvili’s lawyer, Nika Gvaramia, says Saakashvili may be killed during instigated unrest in the prison hospital, which is why it is unacceptable to treat him there.
The Georgian Interior Ministry has launched an investigation into the recent attack on opposition United National Movement (UNM) headquarter in the town of Rustavi. UNM mayoral candidate Davit Kirkitadze reported earlier today that the participants of the October 14 anti-opposition rally were among the offenders.