Georgia: Opposition protests enter fifth day

Despite dwindling numbers over the weekend, the opposition in Georgia has once again rallied an estimated 20,000 supporters in the capital, Tbilisi. Although well down on the 50,000 that demonstrated on Thursday, the number of those openly calling for the resignation of the Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, did at least match those taking to the streets on Friday.

And as tents are erected outside the Georgian presidential palace, it has also prompted bloggers to examine the opposition movement and analyze their chance of success. At Kasrika’s Blog, for example, a GIPA journalism student introduces readers to one of the demonstrators.

20 years ago, Lia Lazashvili remembers standing with her friends in front of Parliament, demonstrating the soviet government. She recalls one of the leaders, Irakli Tsereteli, began to lead the group in prayer. Many were on their knees when Soviet soldiers came through the crowds with shovels and tanks, beating people to death, and causing a panicked stampede that killed several others.

[…]

Lazashvili eventually overcame her fears, and her history as an anti-government protester has placed her back in front of Parliament several times, including last Thursday, April 9. She was among the crowd during the 2003 Rose Revolution protests, where she became an active member of now President Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement, and served as a Tbilisi City Council Deputy representing the party.

But she quit in 2006, disappointed in how the government spent money, and how they ignored the opposition.

“I told them ‘You are Neo-Bolsheviks,’” she recalls. “The freedom we gained 20 years ago we are losing and we need to fight for it again.”

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