Georgia's parliament speaker said Wednesday that the national state of emergency will be lifted on Friday.
"The state of emergency will be lifted on Nov. 16," Nino Burdzhanadze, a close ally of Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili, said in parliament.
Saakashvili introduced the 15-day nationwide state of emergency on Nov. 7 after police violently dispersed opposition protests in the capital.
The United States and other Western nations have strongly urged Saakashvili to quickly remove the measure, which banned independent newscasts.
