Demonstrators in Georgia called for widespread civil disobedience today after President Mikheil Saakashvili defied mass street protests and rejected opposition demands to resign.
Opposition leaders, who brought 60,000 onto the streets of Tbilisi yesterday and 20,000 today, moved to block streets leading to Mr Saakashvili's office and the state broadcaster.
"We are not going to enter these buildings," Levan Gachechiladze, an opposition leader and former presidential challenger, told the crowd outside parliament.
"We just want to take our country back."
Mr Gachechiladze said protesters would block roads leading to Mr Saakashvili's office and the state broadcaster this evening, and then daily from 3pm to 9pm.
Opposition leaders said a campaign of "civil disobedience" would go nationwide until the president quits over his record on democracy and last year's disastrous war with Russia.
Diplomats question whether the opposition can maintain unity and muster enough people to join daily protests to force him out. They warn tensions risk boiling over into unrest.
Analysts say Mr Saakashvili's ruling United National Movement retains wide support and his position appears strong, despite the defection of some top allies and several cabinet reshuffles.
The opposition campaign marks potentially the biggest challenge to the president since he was swept to power in the former Soviet republic's 2003 Rose Revolution.
Mr Saakashvili, who critics say has betrayed the promises of 2003 and entered into a war Georgia could not possibly win, refused to resign.
"It's obvious the answer to this question is 'No'," 41-year-old Mr Saakashvili told a news conference when asked if he would give in to the opposition call.
"It has always been 'No', because that's how it is under the constitution," he said.
The opposition said it was ready to sit down with the president after he called for dialogue, but the details of a possible meeting were not clear.
Reuters