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Protesters in Tbilisi decide to continue rally through coming night

They demand resignation of the government to form a national accord cabinet that would be able to carry out reforms necessary to receive a candidate country status in the European Union

TBILISI, July 3. /TASS/. Protesters in central Tbilisi have decided to spend the night in front of the parliament building.

"Let us stay here for one night and then I will tell you about our plan," Shota Digmelashvili, one of the rally organizers, said at the rally.

The Imedi television channel reported that some of the protesters have marched from the parliament’s building in Tbilisi to the office of the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party. "This building (the ruling party’s office - TASS) is a source of evil. This is where the anti-European policy was planned in," lawyer Georgy Mshvenieradze, one of the rally organizers, told journalists.

The protesters came to the party’s office located several kilometers of the parliament building. The Georgian Dream’s office is cordoned off by the police. Protesters are not clashing with law enforcers.

A rally in front of the parliament building in Tbilisi began on Sunday evening. Protesters demand resignation of the government to form a national accord cabinet that would be able to carry out reforms necessary to receive a candidate country status in the European Union. They blocked traffic along the central Rustaveli Avenue, where the parliament building is located.

On June 23, the European Union summit granted the candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova but postponed such decision in respect of Georgia, which was given six months to carry out necessary reforms. However, there are no clear timelines for granting EU membership to the three countries. Talks on that matter may last for years.

Georgia has been a member of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership program of cooperation with the former Soviet republics since 2009. In 2014, the country signed an association agreement with the European Union. In 2017, Georgian nationals were granted the right to make visa-free travels to Schengen countries.

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