TBILISI. May 26 (Interfax) - The Tbilisi mayor's office has asked protesters who had been holding rallies outside the parliament building since May 21 to move to another part of the capital city in order not to be in the way of a military parade and other Independence Day events planned for Thursday.
The mayor's office had allowed the protests, organized by the opposition party Popular Assembly, to be held in an area next to the parliament headquarters from May 21 to May 25.
The protests must finish by midnight on Wednesday, office spokesman Bacho Dolidze told reporters.
"Tomorrow a series of Independence Day festivities are to take place on Rustaveli Avenue and Liberty Square, and so the participants in the action may move to other parts of the city," Dolidze said.
The protesters were meanwhile occupying the stand put up for guests of the parade and refused to leave.
One of the organizers of the protests, former parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze, said the military parade on Rustaveli Avenue could go ahead, but without President Mikheil Saakashvili's presence, and "will be reviewed by the people of Georgia."
Saakashvili is going to review the parade from a platform next to the guest stand.