Residents of South Ossetia mark Republic Day with parade and mass festivities

On the occasion of the Republic Day in South Ossetia, four days-off were announced, September 20-23. According to the tradition, residents of Tskhinvali, the capital, came to the military parade and festivities, although not everyone knows the meaning of the holiday. In 1990, with the proclamation of the South Ossetian Republic, the process of the collapse of the USSR began, said Mamuka Areshidze, a Georgian political analyst.

For the holiday period, South-Ossetian authorities closed the checkpoints on the border with Georgia.

The decision on the state sovereignty of South Ossetia was made 29 years ago amid a conflict with Georgia; and today Tbilisi continues "provocation against South Ossetia," said Anatoly Bibilov, the head of South Ossetia.

During preparation for the holiday, streets in Tskhinvali were blocked, and local residents experienced difficulties, townspeople have noted.

Many are unaware of the history of the holiday and simply treat it as "City Day".

Mamuka Areshidze said that preconditions for the decision of South-Ossetian MPs existed: frictions in South-Ossetian-Georgian relations already existed, and "the encouraging by certain forces from Moscow increased the tensions."