The opposition alliance of nine parties announced on March 31 the launch of a two-month “national mobilization campaign,” to be symbolically culminated in a large rally in Tbilisi on Independence Day, May 26.
The March 31 announcement came on the 35th anniversary of the 1991 Independence Restoration Referendum, in which around 99% of Georgians who voted chose to restore independence from 70 years of Soviet rule. The referendum led to the proclamation of independence on April 9, 1991, on the second anniversary of the April 9, 1989, Tbilisi massacre. The restoration was based on the May 26, 1918, Act of Independence, which had established the short-lived Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918–1921). May 26, the date of the planned rally, is now celebrated as Georgia’s Independence Day.
“Both of these dates, March 31 and May 26, are among the most important in the history of independent Georgia. Both are linked to the Georgian nation’s most critical challenge – state independence. We believe that today Georgia faces the same challenge,” said Zurab Japaridze, leader of the Girchi-More Freedom opposition party, reading a joint statement of the alliance while standing alongside other leaders.
“For this reason, today, March 31, the opposition alliance announces the launch of a joint national mobilization campaign,” the statement added, inviting all political and civic groups to participate, not just the nine parties of the alliance.
According to the statement, the campaign has five main objectives: “increase direct, face-to-face communication with citizens; counter regime propaganda; transform public anger, protest, and the desire for change into real political action; overcome fear deliberately instilled by this [Georgian Dream] regime over the years; increase the number of people participating in protests.”
“Change does not happen through words alone – it happens when many people stand together, just as it did 35 years ago in the March 31 referendum,” the statement added.
“The campaign will run for two months and will culminate symbolically on May 26 – Georgia’s Independence Day – with a large, mass rally planned in Tbilisi.”
The Facebook event for the planned rally states that gatherings will be held in regional cities and towns, including Kutaisi, Batumi, and Zugdidi, ahead of May 26. The main rally in Tbilisi is scheduled to start at 19:00, proceeding from Tbilisi State University to Parliament.
The opposition alliance, made up of nine parties, was formed on March 2, when the parties signed a coordination document pledging to work together to “save national independence and statehood,” amid a protracted political crisis marked by the ruling Georgian Dream party’s crackdown on dissent and ongoing anti-government protests.
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