Georgians ask Saakashvili to resign

TBILISI, Georgia, April 9 (UPI) -- Thousands of Georgians attended a rally in Tbilisi Thursday demanding President Mikhail Saakashvili resign for failing to install reforms, reports said.

More than 60,000 protesters gathered in front of the parliament building as Georgian opposition parties blamed Saakashvili for unsuccessful war against Russia over South Ossetia in August, the Serbian news agency Beta reported.

Opposition leaders put the number of people at the rally at 80,000, saying they will keep protesting until a new presidential election is called.

Saakashvili said Thursday he won't resign but plans to remain in the office by the end of his term in 2013, Beta reported.

The protests were organized on the 20th anniversary of bloody anti-Soviet demonstrations in 1989. Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.