2009 Georgian demonstrations

2009 Georgian demonstrations
2009 Georgian demonstrations
	Day 2 of demonstrations
Date	9 April – 24 July 2009
Location	Georgia
Caused by	Election controversy; Political corruption; Poverty; Effects of the 2008 Russo-Georgian war; Human rights violations; Mass incarceration
Goals	Resignation of Mikheil Saakashvili; Release of political prisoners
Methods	Demonstrations, civil disobedience, road blockades
Resulted in	No policy/leadership change in response to the protests
Parties
Georgian opposition: Alliance for Freedom; Conservative Party; Democratic Movement–United Georgia; Georgia's Way; Industry Will Save Georgia; Movement for United Georgia; People's Party; Georgian Labour Party; Alliance for Georgia;	Government of Georgia Ministry of Internal Affairs Police of Georgia; Constitutional Security Department; Special Operative Department; ; National Security Council;
Lead figures
	Gia Gachechiladze ; Levan Gachechiladze ; Nino Burjanadze; Salome Zurabishvili; Koba Davitashvili; Shalva Natelashvili Mikheil Saakashvili; Nika Gilauri; Vano Merabishvili

In 2009, a mass rally by a coalition of opposition parties took place in Georgia against the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili. Thousands of people demonstrated, mainly in the capital, Tbilisi, starting on 9 April 2009, demanding Saakashvili's resignation. On the first day of demonstrations, up to 40,000 people gathered in Tbilisi. Protests continued for over three months, although fewer people participated as time passed than during the first days. On 26 May 2009, the Georgian Independence Day, 60,000 protesters took part. Although peaceful at first, there were incidents of fighting between the Georgian police and protesters. The daily rallies gradually dwindled and ended, without achieving any tangible results, on 24 July –107 days after they kicked off.