Police intervenes as Tbilisi prepares for Independence Day parade

Police started to move into the front of the Georgian parliament building early on Thursday to clear opposition protesters who had stayed there for almost six hours.

Law-enforcers, backed by water cannons and teargas forced protesters to pull back along the avenue or into side streets of the Rustaveli Avenue where a parade including military personnel would start in about eight hours to mark the 20th anniversary of Georgia's independence from the former Soviet Union.

A couple of thousands of protesters late on Wednesday stopped in front of the parliament building along the avenue while marching toward the downtown plaza Freedom Square for another public rally.

The decision to stop outside the parliament was not announced in advance. The announced plan, however, was to march toward the Freedom Square, from the front of the state-owned television station GPB where protesters had stayed day and night since late Saturday.

The Georgian parliament building will serve as the viewing platform for Thursday's parade. The Tbilisi City Hall has advised protesters to move to other places.

Bacho Dolidze, spokesperson of the city hall, said that the permission for holding rallies in the Freedom Square and its nearby areas would expire Wednesday night, as a series of events had been planned for Thursday's celebration of the Independence Day.

The Georgian interior ministry on Wednesday released a video clip taken with hidden cameras, showing dialogues among protesters who talked about being paid for taking part in the rally and about getting more pay for throwing home-made Molotov cocktail bombs during the protest.

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