Georgia's opposition is planning new protests, an opposition leader said on Monday.

"The opposition has exhausted all peaceful formats to promote human rights, curb unemployment, improve living standards and democracy," Levan Gachechiladze, head of the Protect Georgia opposition group, said.

"I am sure the third and final wave of protests against repression and corruption will begin at the end of winter or in early spring," he said.

Opposition supporters held protests for three months in Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, dropping them when Vice President Joe Biden visited the ex-Soviet Caucasus state in July.

Two years ago, Georgia was rocked by six-day rallies as protestors occupied central Tbilisi demanding President Mikheil Saakashvili's resignation over allegations of corruption and increasing authoritarianism. On November 7, Saakashvili sent in riot police to clamp down on protesters.

Saakashvili's popularity has plummeted since the August 2008 military incursion into breakaway South Ossetia, which led to a conflict with Russia, a situation worsened by the mass unemployment brought about by the global financial crisis.

The president has also been widely accused of failing to make good on promises to carry out democratic reforms after the 2003 "Rose Revolution" that brought him to power.

TBILISI, December 14 (RIA Novosti)