TBILISI, May 12 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia's opposition plans to "outshine" the country's official Independence Day parade on May 26 with its own festive activities, the leader of United Opposition said Tuesday.
"The nation can hold a parade and mark Independence Day on its own," Levan Gachechiladze said, adding that on May 26 demonstrators will walk through the whole city.
"Despite everything, we stand together, with only one demand - that the president step down," he said.
On Georgia's Independence Day a parade is traditionally held through the center of the capital, with a rehearsal several days before the event. However, the opposition is currently blocking the central part of Tbilisi.
The opposition Conservative Party last week sent Tbilisi City Hall notification that protest rallies would continue until at least the evening of May 26. City Hall is to give an official reply this week. "In line with the law, City Hall has two working days to reply," a City Hall spokesman said, adding that consultations will be held with the Defense Ministry over the military parade.
The leader of the Georgia's Path party, former foreign minister Salome Zurabishvili, said Tuesday that dialogue with the president would continue should he show sufficient understanding of the crisis in the country.
"We will be ready to resume dialogue in the future too, if Saakashvili is adequate to today's reality," she told journalists after opposition leaders met for four hours of consultations.
Gachechiladze said Monday that talks in Tbilisi between President Mikheil Saakashvili and the Georgian opposition that has been demanding that he step down ended without any results. The opposition has been demonstrating against the president on the streets of the capital for more than a month.
"He [Saakashvili] believes that everything is fine in the country, but we have a different opinion," he told journalists.
Saakashvili, however, said he was content with Monday's meeting, which he said was "a victory for democracy."
Georgian opposition leaders last week gave Saakashvili three days to meet with them to discuss their demand for early elections, otherwise, they threatened to start blocking the country's highways.
Saakashvili agreed to hold the talks, and the meeting took place this Monday behind closed doors in the Interior Ministry, with representatives of the Alliance for Georgia, Georgia's Path and National Forum parties participating, as well as Gachechiladze.
On the part of the government, the talks involved parliamentary speaker David Bakradze and other officials.
