Sozar Subari, the leader of opposition Georgian Party, said that his party would start “decisive struggle for the regime change” in Georgia from May 25, which, he said, should become “the Day of Rage of the Georgian people.”

He said that although previous attempts to join efforts with the People’s Assembly, which is currently holding rally outside the public broadcaster, failed, it was no longer important what was in the past, “the important is what will be in the future”.

“Yesterday and today the authorities went beyond any limits and launched terror against the people… involving breaking up of peaceful rallies, illegal arrests… For that reasons the Georgian Party is launching a decisive struggle for the regime change. We call on the entire Georgia, we call on all the political forces, who cares about the country’s fate, to gather in Tbilisi, on Avlabari Square at noon on May 25 to launch the decisive struggle to save the country,” Subari said.

“We should turn May 25 into the Day of Rage of the Georgian people – the day, when the Georgian people will put an end to the Saakashvili’s criminal regime… May 25 should turn into a real independence day for the Georgian people,” Subari said.

The Georgian government plans to mark Georgia’s Independence Day on May 26 with a military parade on the Rustaveli Avenue.

After Subari’s statement, another leader and co-founder of the Georgian Party Levan Gachechiladze joined protesters outside the public broadcaster. Gachechiladze has been in confrontation with Nino Burjanadze, a key figure behind the ongoing rallies.

After arrival at the protest site, where Burjanadze was also present, Gachechiladze told the protesters that he was “forgetting everything for the sake of my country”; then Gachechiladze and Burjanadze shook hands and kissed each other on the cheek in front of applauding protesters.