Tbilisi, Nov 23: Georgia's opposition leader called on supporters today to seize the interior ministry and state television station. "Today is the decisive day," Mikhail Saakashvili said in front of supporters gathered outside Parliament. "The people must finally seize power."

"Thousands of people must go to the ministry of interior and seize the building. The state television channel is running anti-state propaganda. I call on people to go there and take that building." He also called for supporters to turn out for a second day of massive protests today, a day after protestors stormed parliament and the nation's embattled president declared a state of emergency.

Meanwhile, 50 members of a Georgian special forces unit have joined opposition protestors in Tbilisi, one of them told outside Parliament today.

"We don't have a right to act against the people and we have decided to join them," said Georgy Gulua, who added that 50 members of his unit had decided to join the opposition in protests against President Eduard Shevardnadze. The move was a first sign that members of security forces could take the opposition's side in the tense standoff that has seen the beleaguered president declare a state of emergency.

Bureau Report