Georgia's largest opposition party United National Movement announced at today's rally about a "new stage" in the process of releasing its leader, ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili from jail.
Party Chairman Nika Melia said the party is calling on supporters to take part in a mass protest hunger strike whose main demand is Saakashvili's release from prison.
"We are beginning a new stage of the struggle for the release of Mikhail Saakashvili from captivity, and from today we are announcing a mass hunger strike. It's a difficult decision, it's a constitutional right, it's a non-violent method, but it's difficult. In the process of making this difficult decision I may not be able to advise many people and I can't oblige anyone to take this difficult step, but I will add from my own side, the larger the scale, the greater the consolidation, the more likely the result will be positive. The whole world must see that we will not accept the capture of the third president of the country. We are starting a mass hunger strike at Kakheti crossroads, near our office. There will be many of us," Nika Melia said at the rally.
According to Melia, the decision to hold the rally far from the center, rather than traditionally near parliament, was based on the fact that New Year's decorations are currently set up on Rustaveli Avenue. "We must leave this festive space to the children," Melia noted.
The UNM leader also stressed that the mass hunger strike action should not interfere with the national reconciliation process announced by President Salome Zurabishvili.
Today thousands of supporters of the third president gathered on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi to celebrate Mikheil Saakashvili's 54th birthday.
