TBILISI, Nov 4: Several thousand protesters rallied for a third straight day in the Georgian capital on Sunday to press their demand for President Mikheil Saakashvili to resign.

About 3,000 protesters had gathered by early afternoon outside Georgia’s parliament and organisers expected more to join later.

At least 12,000 protesters demonstrated on Saturday and 50,000 the previous day, reflecting the disappointment of many Georgians with their government.

The protests represent the biggest political crisis Saakashvili has faced since he swept to power in Georgia’s 2003 Rose Revolution and won a landslide victory to become president.

A strongly pro-western leader, Saakashvili has pledged to bring his small mountainous country into Nato and the European Union, efforts that have prompted a backlash from former imperial master Russia.

Opposition leaders generally support this pro-western agenda, but have grown angry at Saakashvili’s high-handed style.

They added the demand for Saakashvili’s resignation on Saturday after he ignored their previous request that parliamentary elections be held in April instead of late next year as planned.

Last year lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment extending parliament’s mandate from next April to late 2008 and reducing the president’s term slightly so the two elections could be held simultaneously.

Leaders of the ruling National Movement Party have rejected the opposition’s demands, but Saakashvili has so far not commented on the protests.

His silence has angered many protesters, who say Saakashvili has refused to listen to dissenting voices since coming to power.

Presidential spokesman Vano Nanuashvili said that Saakashvili had no intention of commenting on Sunday.

But pressure is growing on Saakashvili to start a dialogue with the opposition.

On Sunday, Guguli Magradze, a lawmaker with Saakashvili’s National Movement Party, called on the president to accept the opposition’s demand for earlier parliamentary elections.

She said she had begun collecting signatures from other lawmakers to present a bill in parliament stipulating that elections be held in April.

Former president Eduard Shevardnadze, who was himself ousted during mass demonstrations led by Saakashvili, also said the president should compromise.—AFP