Cities, towns across Georgia preparing for Independence Day celebrations
Strips in the colours of the Georgian national flag have been hung along the road on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
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Cities and towns across Georgia are preparing to mark this year’s Independence Day on Friday with cultural, educational and entertainment events.
Set to run under the motto “This Day is Ours”, the programme for the May 26 celebrations will involve a choir of 300 children performing the national anthem on Tbilisi’s Freedom Square at 5:10pm, the exact time the independence of the First Democratic Republic of the country was announced back in 1918.
Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
Events will also involve the customary oath-taking by new recruits of the Georgian Defence Forces in 10 cities including the capital.
Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
Also in Tbilisi, the central Rustaveli Avenue will be divided into spaces for cognitive, entertainment, sports and children's events and activities.
Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
Literary spaces set up along the Avenue will host meetings of authors and poets with their readers, while startups will exhibit and sell their products on the location.
Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
Fifteen other cities have official events planned for the date, with ministries and state agencies showcasing their work at stands.
The Independence Day programme will be crowned with a gala concert on the First Republic Square in Tbilisi at 8pm.
February 25, the day marking the Soviet invasion of Georgia, has become the beginning of the “persistent struggle” for the country’s independence, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Saturday.
Traffic in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi will be restricted to facilitate preparations for the annual Independence Day celebrations on Friday, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said on Monday.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Saturday said the country’s future rested upon returning to the European family since the day of gaining independence on April 9, 1989.
Georgian institutions and citizens on Friday marked the 32nd anniversary of the referendum that led to the country regaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
The Georgian Government Administration on Thursday said this year’s Independence Day celebrations on Friday had been designed to showcase “national symbols”, in response to criticism by a part of the domestic opposition on the absence of the European Union flag from the decorations set up in Tbilisi for the date.
Countries around the world will join celebrations for Georgia’s Independence Day on Friday with events, while their landmarks will be illuminated in national colours of the country for the date.
Chefs presenting cuisine from the western Georgian region of Samegrelo, adventure tourism events and children’s games will mark the country’s Independence Day in the city of Zugdidi on Friday.
Cities across Georgia are marking Independence Day with events and exhibitions for residents and visitors today, with the main programme hosted in capital Tbilisi throughout the day. The annual celebrations are marked after May 26, 1918 – the day the Act of Independence established the First Democratic Republic of the country.
Google has congratulated Georgia on its 105th anniversary since the creation of the first Democratic Republic of Georgia in 1918.