On the evening of October 25, an opposition alliance held a protest in Tbilisi. Participants gathered outside the first building of Tbilisi State University and marched toward the Rustaveli metro station, where representatives of the opposition alliance announced the launch of a new campaign.
The campaign’s slogan is “Georgia Without Ivanishvili – the Georgian People Deserve Better!” Its goal is to prepare for a large-scale protest scheduled to take place in Tbilisi on November 28.
Representatives of the parties comprising the opposition alliance addressed the crowd at the rally.
“November 28 must become the decisive, peak day. We must realize that numbers are what matters most. We should welcome the moment when, through sheer numbers, we can achieve results — a Georgia without Ivanishvili!” declared Nika Gvaramia, one of the leaders of the Coalition for Change.
“Bidzina Ivanishvili is making decisions so brazen it seems as though we are all expected to despair. But in reality, the opposite is true: by outlawing alternatives, Ivanishvili is acknowledging a crisis of his own legitimacy. He is effectively admitting that he no longer trusts the Georgian people, that he fears their free choice — and he has every reason to fear it,” noted Tamar Chergoleishvili, one of the leaders of the Federalists party.
“I want to urge you to stand shoulder to shoulder with political parties — not because they are infallible (only those who do nothing make no mistakes), but because without empowering political parties, it will be impossible to achieve the changes we all strive for,” said Levan Tsutskiridze, leader of the Freedom Square party.
“When Bidzina Ivanishvili bans Georgia’s political parties, this is not just about revoking the registration of five parties or coalitions. It is effectively deregistering the country itself as a state. And the only force capable of stopping this is you, the citizens of Georgia,” emphasized Giga Lemonjava, a representative of the Droa! party.
“We must believe that the struggle the Georgian people continue to wage will inevitably end in victory,” stated Luka Mishveladze, a representative of the Girchi – More Freedom party.
“Bidzina Ivanishvili’s actions are laughable, because how can you possibly take away people’s voices and force them into silence? It is unthinkable for such a thing to happen in Georgia. That is why even more of us must gather on November 28 to show that silencing these people is impossible,” concluded Ana Kobakhidze, a representative of the Strategy Aghmashenebeli party.