Georgian protesters get feistier

Organizers of the opposition action in Tbilisi have decided to divide the protesters into three groups according to party affiliation as they begin civil disobedience, Conservative Party official Kakha Kukava told Novosti Gruzia. The groups will demonstrate daily from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. in front of the parliament, and at the public television studio and presidential residence. Then they will converge by the parliament.

“The main thing is to disrupt Mikheil Saakashvili’s daily routine,” united opposition leader Levan Gachechiladze explained to the crowd gathered tonight in front of the Georgian parliament. He said the protest action would spread throughout Georgia and stressed the need for disciplined “exemplary disobedience.”

Democratic Movement – United Georgia leader Nino Burjanadze was booed again today when she mounted the podium, but less forcefully than yesterday, Civil.ge notes. She had close ties to Saakashvili until resigning as speaker of the Georgian parliament in a disagreement over political appointments. “This is not the time yet for claims and questions [for former government officials who have since joined the opposition],” she told the demonstrators. “That time will come soon.”

“I call Saakashvili to a direct dialog,” Burjanadze continued. If Saakashvili is a real man, I am ready to appear with him on live TV and speak with him about the complaints I had against him at one time and how the Georgian people, even though they are patient, will never tolerate humiliation or the trampling of their dignity.”

Leader of the pro-presidential majority in the Georgian parliament warned that the protesters should not make their demands in ultimatum form and should not tie up traffic in Tbilisi. “That picketing should not escalate into the paralysis of the city,” Petre Tsiskarishvili said, according to Novosti Gruzia. Secretary of the Georgian Security Council Eka Tkeshelashvili told a press conference Friday evening that the police will not interefere with the protesters as long as they remian peaceful, however. She also pointed out that Saakashvili has already expressed his willingness to enter into talks with opposition representatives.