Georgia on the verge of civil unrest - opposition leader

TBILISI, June 13 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia is on the verge of civil unrest, an opposition leader said Saturday.

This was how former premier Zurab Nogaideli, who leads the Movement for a Just Georgia, commented on Friday's clashes between young opposition members with parliament security guards in Tbilisi, which resulted in the arrest of five opposition members.

"In the fall there will either be a serious civil unrest or elections at which the citizens can make their choice. The choice what path the country will follow is to be made by Saakashvili and his entourage," he said.

Fourteen leading non-parliamentary opposition parties and political organizations have been protesting in Georgia since April 9 demanding that President Mikheil Saakashvili resign over his failure to carry out democratic reforms and over last August's disastrous war with Russia.

However, Nogaideli has refused to join the organizers of mass protest events, saying he will act independently.