President, ombudswoman don’t welcome ‘mass hunger strike’ launched by UNM

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili and Public Defender Nino Lomjaria have not welcomed the move of the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party to launch a ‘large-scale’ hunger protest to achieve the release of imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili. 

The UNM announced the decision on December 21 and now says that almost 300 people, including the party head Nika Melia, its members and activists are on hunger strike at the party headquarters in the outskirts of Tbilisi. 

Zurabishvili and Lomjaria say that the form of the protest never eases tension and escalation. 

The president has recently launched talks to achieve ‘national agreement’ between Georgian political parties ‘to end polarization and allow the country to move forward.’ 

Unlike Zurabishvili and Lomjaria, Saakashvili who was arrested in Tbilisi on December 1, after eight years in political exile, has welcomed the party decision.