Nearly 3,000 ethnic Armenian residents of the southern Georgian Djavakheti district held a demonstration on 31 March protesting the possible withdrawal of the Russian military from its Akhalkalaki base there. The demonstrators also reiterated a list of demands submitted to Georgian authorities at an earlier demonstration on 13 March. Those demands included an end to the ban on teaching Armenian history in local schools, the adoption of new legal guarantees for the rights of ethnic minorities, and the official recognition of the Armenian genocide by the Georgian government. The protesters also warned against any change to the region\'s demography that would \"reduce the native ethnic Armenian population of Djavakheti.\" A smaller demonstration was held in Batumi on 31 March, with about 500 local residents protesting against the Russian withdrawal from their base in Adjara, Caucasus Press reported. (Arminfo)