Anti-Saakashvili protesters fill stadium

TBILISI, Georgia, May 27 (UPI) -- The Georgian opposition has filled a 60,000-seat soccer stadium to bring about the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Staging protest rallies and even roadblocks, the opposition in the Eastern European country has tried to oust the president since April -- but this latest display of unity was probably the most powerful so far.

On Tuesday, Georgia's Independence Day, more than 50,000 people gathered in the stadium of soccer club Dynamo Tbilisi, BBC reports. The protesters sang the national anthem and listened to speeches by opposition leaders.

Tbilisi earlier called off a military parade to avoid clashes with the protesters, who for weeks have been blocking a major street intended to be part of the parade route.

Critics accuse Saakashvili of having unnecessarily provoked a war with Russia this past summer, and of anti-democratic tendencies ever since. Despite the pressure from the opposition, Saakashvili has so far refused to resign.

The United States and the European Union on Monday in a joint statement urged both parties to "end the current stalemate on the streets and begin negotiations immediately and without preconditions on a new program of reforms to invigorate Georgia's democracy."