Opposition temporarily postpones protests until completion of negotiations with gov’t
Opposition politicians, who had met with ruling party leaders after the October parliamentary elections four times, held the first direct dialogue with prime minister on March 1. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Opposition parties have temporarily postponed joint protests until completion of negotiations with the government, which was initiated by the President of the European Council Charles Michel.
In order not to give the government an additional reason to disrupt the talks, we [opposition parties] decided to postpone non-violent protests until the end of the negotiations”, said member of the Strategy Aghmashenebeli opposition party Paata Manjgaladze.
Manjgaladze said as the United National Movement opposition party has a specific situation due to the imprisonment of its leaser Nika Melia, the opposition will hold a series of protests in a ‘modified format’.
UNM member Tina Bokuchava said that as it is very important for the UNM that the opposition act together, instead of holding rally at the administrative building of the Government of Georgia on March 5, they will drive in a convoy from the Republic Square to Rustavi Prison, where Nika Melia is serving his sentence.
We [the opposition] have discussed and decided to modify the form of protests so that Irakli Garibashvili and Bidzina Ivanishvili will not be able to use the protests as a pretext for disrupting talks”, said Bokuchava.
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The opposition has postponed the March 13 rally until March 20.
The Georgian opposition parties which took to the street following the recent arrest of the head of the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party Nika Melia are now holding a protest in downtown Tbilisi on Rustaveli Avenue. They say that protests will continue at parliament, the administrative building of the government of Georgia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and at Tbilisi City Court until Melia and the co-founder of the opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi TV channel Giorgi Rurua are released, and repeat parliamentary elections scheduled.
Changes to the Georgian election code, per an agreement with the ruling Georgian Dream and Citizens opposition party have been introduced to the state legislature.
Georgian opposition parties have requested mediation instead of facilitation from the EU to come to an agreement with the ruling Georgian party amid the current political tension.
Former opposition MP and the head of the United National Movement opposition party Nika Melia has been arrested by police earlier today for refusal to post bail shortly after the parliament approved Irakli Garibashvili prime minister and his cabinet late yesterday. Melia was arrested in his office in the UNM headquarters in Tbilisi by special unit servicemen. Police allegedly used pepper spray in the room.
Georgian Dream party chairperson Mamuka Mdinaradze told reporters on Monday he expected talks between the government and the opposition to continue, despite the impact of the release of a recording allegedly involving violations by state officials on Saturday.