On May 26, Georgian Independence Day, a large opposition rally took place in Tbilisi’s city center. Journalist Giorgi Jabishvili, who was on the scene, reported the event.
Protesters marched from Tbilisi State University to the Parliament building, completely blocking Rustaveli Avenue and paralyzing traffic. Many demonstrators carried flags of Georgia, the European Union, and the United States. Radical opposition leaders addressed the crowd from an improvised stage without microphones, their speeches accompanied by loud music.
According to Jabishvili, one leader stated that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was on a working visit to Yerevan today, should have been in Tbilisi instead to support the radical opposition.
The last large-scale rally in Tbilisi occurred on November 27 of last year. During that demonstration, protesters under EU flags demanded the government resign. Jabishvili noted that this year’s protest marked the anniversary of riots staged by the same group last year, which resulted in near-total destruction of Rustaveli Avenue and frequent clashes with Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs special forces.
