parliament

The demonstrators demanded that Georgia withdraws its troops from Afghanistan. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Students rallied in front of the old parliament building in Tbilisi Friday to demand the withdrawal of Georgian troops from Afghanistan.

The protest came after seven Georgian soldiers died in a suicide attack in Helmand province on Thursday.

Most of the participants at the rally were students, who had organized through Facebook on the day of the attack.

“Honor to our fallen heroes,” “The life of each soldiers is important’, some of the posters read.

Some rally participants said they were not calling for a complete withdrawal, but wanted the contingent to be reduce to half of what it is today.

29 Georgian soldiers have died in Afghanistan since the country started its participation in ISAF. The number of Georgian troops has increased gradually to today about 1 700 who are serving in Helmand Province.

Georgia has committed to continue participating in ISAF beyond the 2014 withdrawal, but from then on cooperation will not be of a military nature. There are still talks about the details, but it is known that Georgians will be trainers or consultants.

The Georgian government says it does not plan to reconsider the country’s participation in ISAF.