Tens of Thousands in Georgia Opposition Rally

Tens of thousands of Georgians joined one of the biggest opposition rallies in the ex-Soviet state in years Saturday on the final day of campaigning before hard-fought parliamentary polls.

Huge crowds packed Tbilisi's central Freedom Square and the capital's main street to cheer billionaire tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose opposition Georgian Dream coalition is challenging President Mikheil Saakashvili's ruling party in Monday's vote, an Agence France Presse correspondent said.

His supporters marched on the square in large columns from several locations across the city, wearing his coalition's T-shirts, carrying the bloc's banners and flags and chanting "Georgia! Georgia!"

"Saakashvili's system must be destroyed. The fate of the country is being decided at these elections," Ivanishvili told the rally. "The day of a new government is coming," he said.