Opposition Starts Civil Disobedience Today

Opposition leaders called for all Georgians on November 16 to join a civil disobedience campaign starting from November 17.

Mikheil Saakashvili, an opposition leader, said on Sunday while addressing supporters in the Philharmonic Hall, that the disobedience will start at 11 am, to coincide with President Shevardnadze’s Monday radio address.

Articulating the shared plan of the protesting opposition, he called the supporters to stop their vehicles and blow their horns for one minute at 11 am, as a signal of launching a disobedience campaign.

He urged the employees of the governmental agencies and schools to go on strike and for businessmen to pay only those taxes, which go to the social, salary and pension funds.

The opposition leaders reiterated that the campaign will be peaceful, without any violence. “We have no other option left rather than to resist the authorities, which deprived us the right to vote, with peaceful, civil disobedience campaign,” Zurab Zhvania, an opposition leader said on November 16.