NATO membership supporters, opponents rally in Georgia
TBILISI. June 27 (Interfax) - Supporters and opponents of Georgia's accession to NATO held demonstrations in Tbilisi, where a NATO-Georgia commission meeting is taking place, in which NATO Council members and Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen are taking part.
"Georgia's path does lead through NATO," Aleko Shalamberidze of the opposition party Free Georgia and one of the organizers of the demonstration opposing NATO told journalists.
"Georgian servicemen should be immediately withdrawn from Afghanistan. The losses among them are unjustified. Georgia should not accede to NATO, it has its own Georgian way, and it should not join any alliances and military unions," Shalamberidze said.
Speakers at the other demonstration contended that without NATO, Georgia's security would be seriously jeopardized.
Confrontation between the participants at the two demonstrations grew into an exchange of epithets, but police prevented physical contact between them.