UNM rally ends in Tbilisi without blocking central roads

The rally by the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party has ended at the presidential palace in central Tbilisi, without blocking roads on both banks of the River Mtkvari as the party announced yesterday. 

UNM head Nika Melia said that the party changed its plans to avoid ‘bloodshed’ and rally dispersal by the government, as riot police was present at the scene where the demonstrators were marching.

 
Melia said that rallies will continue every day until former president Mikheil Saakashvili is transferred to a civil clinic, who has been on hunger strike for 46 days. 

The third president was convicted in Georgia back in 2018 for abuse of power in absentia and was sentenced to six years in prison.  

Saakashvili also faces five charges related to embezzlement, illegal takeover of property and others.

The third president says he returned to Georgia after eight years in political exile to remove the Georgian Dream from power.