Georgians choose ‘tulips’ instead of violence

‘Tulips - No To Violence’, a peaceful action, will be held today near the Interior Ministry of Georgia building in Tbilisi.

The action is organized by the House of Free Thought, a youth assembly.

The action starts at 1 p.m. The participants are students and people who suffered in the dispersal of the April 9th 1989 rally, including policemen; composer Jemal Sepiashvili and the Georgian singers who sung the Tulips song - GHN.

The participants of the action intend to present policemen tulips and appeal not to allow violence against society and rally participants. Shalva Khachapuridze, the Our Georgia leader and the attorney, will hold a press conference at 3 p.m. and will present a new initiative connected with the April 9th action/

The initiative implies establishing the Great Assembly of People and the constitutional cessation of the leadership's authorities.

The new U.S. administration approaches the government of Mikheil Saakashvili in a far more objective way than Bush's administration, and doesn't support the President of Georgia blindly, stated Giya Maisashvili, the Party of the Future leader, in the course of the meeting with the representative of the diplomatic corps accredited in Georgia.

According to Maisashvili, in case Saakashvili remains his position, Georgia may soon find itself in the international isolation.

The negotiations in the Tbilisi Marriott hotel were attended by the leaders of virtually all parties taking part in the April 9th protest action with a demand of Saakashvili's resignation.

After the meeting the opposition members announced they talked of the necessity to provide security of peaceful protesters.

The opposition leaders assured the diplomats their intentions are peaceful and constitutional, they are ready for coordinated work with law enforcement bodies' representatives to create additional security guarantees for the action participants.

Though the opposition accepts the responsibility for the constitutional progress of events, it cannot rule out provocations from the side of the authorities and therefore imposes a part of responsibility on the government.

The opposition members also requested the diplomats to protect action participants from the violence from the side of the government.

According to David Gamkrelidze, the New Rights party leader, "it is necessary to avoid violence from the side of President Mikheil Saakashvili's and Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili's punitive squads".

"That is why the Georgian opposition needs diplomats' attention," he underlined.