25 March 2008, 13:10
Opposition in Georgia stops hunger strike
Tonight, on the 17th day of the protest action, the opposition of Georgia has made a decision to stop the hunger strike.
Despite the end of the hunger strike, the protest action near the building of the Parliament will go on, Georgiy Khaindrava, one of the leaders of the opposition, has stated. According to his story, the rally will continue for the whole night, and tomorrow it will move to the "Imedi" TV Company. Mr Khaindrava has noted that irrespective of the number of the people who will stay at the Parliament, be it five persons or even three, the rally will take place all the same.
"Only the hunger-strikers will leave the place to receive their medical aid. All the others will stay here and will not leave away all the night long," the IA "Georgia Online" quotes Khaindrava as saying. Tomorrow, on March 26, at 2:00 p.m., the rally will move to the office of the "Imedi" TV Company, where the protesters will demand to resume its broadcasting.
According to Georgiy Khaindrava, the refusal to continue the hunger strike was caused by the appeal of the Georgian Orthodox Church - Catholicos and Patriarch of All Georgia Elias the Second. However, the oppositionist has emphasized that his supporters will again resort to radical protest forms, if the voting outcomes at the parliamentary elections on May 21 will be garbled. "Should the elections be forged, then, a revolution will burst out," he told to the "Interfax".
It is necessary to note here that today President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili has promised to the opposition that the forthcoming parliamentary elections will be "the cleanest and most transparent" and has suggested that the opposition create an inter-faction group, the IA "News-Georgia" reports.
