NEWS

Opposition UNM party rally underway in Tbilisi

The rally was announced in March by UNM Chair Levan Khabeishvili, who said his party was giving the Government time until April 9 to implement the European Union’s conditions for granting the country the membership candidate status or it would face protests. Photo via IPN

Agenda.ge, 09 Apr 2023 - 18:17, Tbilisi,Georgia

The leaders and supporters of the United National Movement party are currently gathered at a rally in front of the Parliament building in central Tbilisi.

Representatives of the youth wing of the UNM party have marched from the Rustaveli metro station and joined the gathering in front of the legislative body.

The rally was announced in March by UNM Chair Levan Khabeishvili, who said his party was giving the Government time until April 9 to implement the European Union’s conditions for granting the country the membership candidate status or it would face protests.

Some opposition figures have announced they would not be present at the protest, including Salome Samadashvili, the MP for the opposition Lelo party, who called the purpose of the rally “unclear”.

Aleko Elisashvili, the leader of the Citizens opposition party, also criticised the coinciding of the demonstration with an anniversary of the violent dispersal of peaceful protesters in Tbilisi by Soviet forces on April 9, 1989, and said it was “unacceptable” for him to join the likes of Vano Merabishvili, the former Interior Minister in the UNM Government and now an opposition figure, at “any rally”.

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