As usual, Russia is blamed for this one, directly by Georgian president Saakashvilli. He claims that Russia, Russian security and spy agencies are behind these protests. Even though its actually happening because of recent arrest of Irakly Okruashvili who was arrested after criticizing the current president. He then appeared on television aired from his detention/prison where he confessed to plotting against the state and he took back his claims against the government which included accusations of government crime and corruption. Then he was released on a 5-million-dollar bail, and he then renounced what he said before while in custody, claiming that he was pressured and threatened to confess. And then he flew to Germany where is right now, calling for the resignation of current Georgian leader and early elections.
November 8, 2007, 2:50
Georgia gags media in political crackdown
The Georgian government has declared a nationwide state of emergency after a day of violence in Tbilisi. Riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters. News channels were raided and shut down. President Saakashvili is blaming Russia for the unrest.
The 15-day state of emergency is already operational. It silences opposition media voices in Georgia and bans the right to protest.
Only State-run TV and radio stations will be allowed to broadcast.
Announcing the measure, Economic Development Minister Georgy Arveladze said the President had acted constitutionally.
He said it would “affect the receiving and spreading of information, the freedom of public gatherings, rallies and strikes."
“Information will only be spread through Georgian public TV and Radio. The decree has been published so is already in force,” Mr Arverladze said.
Two TV stations were immediately blacked out. Police forced their way into the studio of the leading opposition station ‘Imedi TV’ and stopped the broadcasts.
'Imedi' was recently sold by influential Georgian businessman, Badri Patarkatsishvili to the western media holding News Corp.
Mr Patarkatsishvili has strongly backed the opposition demonstrations.
The clashes between police and opposition protesters have injured hundreds of people. Most of them were poisoned by tear gas used by the police.
The day's violent events
Security forces in Tbilisi cleared protesters from outside the parliament building in following five days of demonstrations.
Opposition protesters were demanding early elections and the resignation of President Mikhail Saakashvili.
About 70,000 people took part in the demonstrations. Many were involved in clashes with police.
Russia Today's own correspondent Ekaterina Azarova and cameraman Evgeny Litovko, were caught up in the police crackdown. They were conducting a live television broadcast when special forces began to spray tear gas, as a result of which our team suffered tear-gas poisoning.
To watch RT’s coverage of the events, please follow the link.
Opposition supporters began to return to the Parliament building after the police broke up the rally early on Wednesday. The protesters planned to stage another rally but were again confronted by riot police.
The Speaker for the Georgian Parliament, Nino Burdhanadze, has called on the opposition to stop the protests and to resume talks.
“I address every Georgian citizen and call for calm. It's not the time for ultimatums. We must do everything in order not to damage our state. We will resume the dialogue with the opposition as soon as the police return to its barracks,” she said.
Georgia blames Russia
The government is blaming Moscow for orchestrating an attempted coup and has expelled three Russian diplomats.
President Mikhail Saakashvili addressed the nation to explain the crackdown.
He blamed 'evil forces' directed from Moscow for stirring up unrest.
"We will not allow the special services of another country to undermine Georgia,” Mr Saakashvili said.
The President said Russia had 'great experience' in destabilising other countries, but said it had 'no chance' of succeeding.
"While Russia has practically annexed Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region - to allow massive clashes in Georgia is to threaten its existence. The time for demonstrations and counter demonstrations is over. We will allow no more violence," he said.
President Saakashvili said several spies working as diplomats in the Russian embassy will be expelled for stirring up political unrest in Georgia.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry later revealed the names of Russian officials declared persona non grata.
The President added that he could prove that Russian security services are behind attempts to sabotage the stability in Georgia. Mr Saakashvili promised that the proof will be made public soon.
He also said the authorities will do everything ‘to prevent destabilisation and chaos’. The use of force against the opposition rally was necessary to restore order, he believes, and was absolutely lawful.
“We gave people the right to protest but they used force against us. We have the right to use force against them as in any democratic country,” Mikhail Saakashvili said.
Georgian Ambassador to Russia, Irakly Chubinishvili, has reportedly been recalled to Tbilisi.
The Russian Foreign Ministry says it will find an adequate response to the removal of Russian diplomats from Georgia signalling the possibility of a tit-for-tat expulsion.
It has urged Tbilisi against taking what it calls 'destructive steps'.
Reaction
The Kremlin has labelled President Saakashvili’s accusations and the expulsion of Russian diplomats as 'anti-Russian hysteria'.
Moscow says Saakashvili's talk of human rights doesn't square up with the actions of the police on the streets of Tbilisi.
Head of the Duma's Constitution Committee Vladimir Pligin says the current turmoil inside Georgia has nothing to do with external Russian influence. He says the allegations against Russia are groundless.
“Objective observers and experts from different countries and agencies stressed that this is an internal problem of Georgia today,” Mr Pligin said.
“It was all started by people who were against the Russian policy and they are not supportive of the Russian Federation,” Mr Pligin added.
Georgian Ombudsman, Sozar Subari, has called the security crackdown on protesters unconstitutional. He also said that the country ‘is ruled not by laws, but according to the wishes of certain individuals.’
He also said that he witnessed people lying on the ground being beaten.
“I tried to stop them, but was severely beaten. What's more they did it deliberately, since those who did it knew that I am Georgia’s Public Defender. But I have no regrets – some people have had worse,” Mr Subari said.
Governments around the world have also been reacting to events in Tbilisi.
The U.S. State Department says it supports the right for peaceful protest in Georgia and called for an end to violence.
The European Union says it hopes a solution will be found through constitutional regulations.
Chairman of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe), Miguel Moratinos, expressed concern over events, calling on the two sides to open talks based on democratic principles.
Magnetonium
The same evil regime that used the protests to seize power / overthrow Shevardnadze in 2003 is now using force and un-democratic efforts to prevent the same thing happening to it this time around:
TBILISI, Georgia - Thousands of antigovernment demonstrators protested for a third day in front of Georgia's parliament Sunday in what could become an opposition-led repeat of the Rose Revolution that brought down an unpopular leader and swept current President Mikhail Saakashvili to power on a wave of reformist hopes.
The 10-party opposition coalition, formed just a month ago to protest planned changes to the electoral system, suprised most observers by drawing more than 50,000 supporters onto the streets of the capital, Tbilisi, on Friday. Repeat rallies over the weekend were much smaller, but suggested the movement might have staying power. Though some opposition leaders held out the possibility of compromise, others began demanding Mr. Saakashvili's resignation.
"I think Saakashvili has already lost his chance," says Georgy Khaindrava, a former minister in Saakashvili's government turned opposition leader. "No one wants this government; everyone wants a new one."
The upsurge suggests that Georgia's dismal history of turbulent political change might be on the verge of repeating itself. Since the tiny mountainous republic of 5 million gained independence from the Soviet Union, it has had three leaders, each of whom came in on an intense wave of popularity only to run afoul of surging public discontent.
Zviad Gamsakhurdia, elected with 87 percent support in 1991, was killed in a civil war that brought the popular former Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze to power the next year. Mr. Shevardnadze appeared to stabilize Georgia and put it on the path to democracy, but he was accused of rigging a parliamentary election and forced to resign in the Rose Revolution. The US-educated Saakashvili, once a protege of Shevardnadze, won subsequent presidential polls with a 97 percent majority.
But Saakashvili's reforms have since managed to anger Georgians from almost all walks of life.
"I don't like the conditions of the past four years," said Manana Ravtadze, a child-care worker at Saturday's rally. "I want our president to stand in front of the people and tell them of his mistakes."
Zero-tolerance crime legislation has put large numbers of young people in prison for minor offenses. Privatization has led to complaints by small property holders that their rights are being violated. Intellectuals worry about a perceived erosion of democratic rights. Food and energy prices are climbing, while unemployment remains stubbornly high.
"[The protests are] not just about politics, it's about the people's anger," says Tina Khidasheli, a leader of the moderate Republican Party. "What Saakashvili managed in four years was to create the feeling that the president was against each person individually."
The opposition coalition was formed a month ago after the arrest of former Defense Minister Irakly Okruashvili, who was charged with "political negligence and corruption" after he formed an opposition party and accused Saakashvili of plotting to murder unnamed key opponents. Mr. Okruashvili later recanted, was released on $6 million bail, and reportedly left the country last week to seek "medical attention" in Germany.
The opposition is demanding the release of what they term political prisoners. It also wants to halt Saakashvili's plans to postpone spring parliamentary polls until next fall,and make other electoral changes opposition leaders regard as "undemocratic." The Republican Party favors abolishing the presidency altogether and turning Georgia into a British-style parliamentary republic.
Though the opposition lacks a single leader of the stature Saakashvili enjoyed during the Rose Revolution, and popular grievances seem less acute, the tactic of rolling street demonstrations threatens once again to destabilize Georgia's fragile democracy, some experts warn.
"What's happening now is beyond any civilized framework. The opposition is using a previously tested system of overthrowing government, one that does not bring credibility to our country," says Alexander Rondeli, president of the independent Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies in Tbilisi. "Like most post-Soviet republics, Georgia is not ready for democracy."
Many in the weekend crowds said they do not want to overthrow Saakashvili, but just force him to address their grievances. As of Sunday evening, Saakashvili had yet to meet with opposition leaders or speak publicly about the crisis.
"We're ready to stay here a long time. We want a conversation with Saakashvili," said David Bayindurashvili, a college student, at Saturday's rally.
Despite the calls for Saakashvili to go, some opposition chiefs were still holding out the possibility of compromise on Sunday.
"[Saakashvili] has to choose between his people and his inner circle," Davit Usupashvili, Republican Party leader, told Imedi TV, a station owned by Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili.
A former Saakashvili supporter who now financially backs the opposition, Mr. Patarkatsishvili told the Financial Times last week, "I don't think my country would survive another revolution."
Georgia's former defence minister surfaces in Germany
MARGARITA ANTIDZE
Reuters
November 6, 2007 at 5:58 AM EST
TBILISI — Georgian authorities threatened on Tuesday to launch an international manhunt for President Mikhail Saakashvili's arch foe after he surfaced in Germany and accused Georgia's leader of corruption.
The television interview by former defence minister Irakly Okruashvili injected fresh momentum into opposition protests — which have attracted thousands since Friday — calling for the resignation of injected fresh momentum into opposition protests Saakashvili for corruption and economic mismanagement.
“If Okruashvili does not appear in Georgia on the first demand of the Prosecutor-General's office, his 10 million lari ($6-million U.S.) bail will be transferred to the state budget and a search for him begun,” deputy prosecutor-general Nika Gvaramia told a news briefing.
Outside the parliament in central Tbilisi protesters gathered for a fifth successive day and some demonstrators joined four opposition politicians on a hunger strike to press for the president's resignation.
Fiery nationalist Mr. Okruashvili first took aim at Mr. Saakashvili in September, alleging that his former boss had plotted the murder of a businessman and had overseen massive corruption.
His charges, vigorously denied by Mr. Saakashvili, galvanized the previously disunited opposition but also led to his arrest.
A few days later, looking tired and dazed, Mr. Okruashvili was released on bail after retracting all his allegations in a televised statement.
On Monday, in his first public comments since his release from jail, Mr. Okruashvili said in a broadcast from Germany that he had been pressured into retracting the allegations, insisted once again that they were true, urged Mr. Saakashvili to resign and said that he was now a political refugee.
All lies, Mr. Gvaramia said.
“Okruashvili's statement that he had been pressured while in jail is another lie,” he said.
Mr. Saakashvili has flatly rejected the opposition's demands for his resignation and for early parliamentary elections. He says the protests are the work of “dark forces,” hinting that former imperial master Russia is behind them.
Moscow denies involvement. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described Mr. Saakashvili's comments as a “farce” on Tuesday, adding: “I believe that the Georgian nation deserves a better future, and in this it can have Russia's support.”
Thousands have protested in the Georgian capital Tbilisi since Friday in the biggest challenge to Mr. Saakashvili's authority since he came to power in a peaceful 2003 revolution.
“Hundreds and hundreds of people are ready to go on hunger strike in order to force Saakashvili from power,” opposition leader Kakha Kukava said.
The opposition's main accusations against Mr. Saakashvili are that his government is corrupt and authoritarian. It also says the benefits of economic growth have not been felt by ordinary Georgians. Most critics do not question his pro-Western line.
Magnetonium
ams.rld
wow, your the only one concerned about this:eyes:
Magnetonium
quote:
Originally posted by ams.rld
wow, your the only one concerned about this:eyes:
People (in the West) are generally concerned about issues in Eastern Europe only when Russia is doing something they dont like. If its just some silly demonstrations in Georgia demanding resignation of a authoritarian government (who is pro-Western) its all fine and dandy. There was much more fanfare in Western media 4 years ago when Saakashvilli and his boys were the ones demonstrating - because they were doing it against a pro-Russian government. Back then USA and others have stepped in and pressured Shevardnadze to step down, events dubbed the "Rose Revolution". But Saakashvilli is American-educated and American-funded, so he's a good boy. So far its mostly been Russian media covering the developments.
Just wait and see, once Georgia arrests some Russian nationals and accuses them of destabilizing the situation in their country, thats when the interest on this forum will finally kick in.
Now that I think of it, Georgia has expelled several Russian diplomats as a result of these protests already couple days ago. Stupidity? Of course! ... sigh ...
Lebezniatnikov
I used to follow Georgia more closely than I have this week. The country is so pretty, and definitely on my list of places I want to go. I will catch up once I sober up.
ams.rld
quote:
Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov
I used to follow Georgia more closely than I have this week. The country is so pretty, and definitely on my list of places I want to go. I will catch up once I sober up.
The country isn't that beautiful....sober up first.
Lebezniatnikov
quote:
Originally posted by ams.rld
The country isn't that beautiful....sober up first.
I apologize, I should have consulted with you, oh wise one, first.
ams.rld
quote:
Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov
I apologize, I should have consulted with you, oh wise one, first.
Thank you.
Krypton
This is not nearly as bad as the Pakistani state of emergency. The Georgian president has essentially resigned saying early elections will be held in January.
Does anyone read the Wall Street Journal. I've seen in the paper almost everyday an ad from the Georgian government talking about how good Georgia is for investors, and how much growth is happening, etc. etc. Political turmoil though is enough to spook many investors out. Especially with separatist South Ossetia. I think Georgia should just let the Ossetians govern themselves and worry about the economic development of Georgia. Russia should stop pressuring such a small country as Georgia because they'll get what the Chechans have given back to the Russians for suppressing them.
Georgia opposition ends protests
Georgian soldiers in central Tbilisi - 9/11/2007
Authorities said the state of emergency would be lifted soon
Opposition leaders in Georgia say they have called off their protest campaign against President Mikhail Saakashvili after he announced early elections.
Parliament has voted to approve the 15-day state of emergency ordered by Mr Saakashvili after days of protests that were broken up by police on Wednesday.
Authorities have said the state of emergency will be lifted soon but have not given a date.
Early elections were one of the main demands of protesters.
The vote to approve the state of emergency was passed by all 149 members of the 225-seat parliament who were present. Opposition lawmakers boycotted the vote.
Saakashvili 'gamble'
Mr Saakashvili announced the early elections after widespread shock in Georgia at the ferocity of the police crackdown on protesters in central Tbilisi on Wednesday.
Police used tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets to disperse several thousand protesters.
There were also strong expressions of concern from the president's allies in the West over the declaration of a state of emergency.
CRISIS TIMELINE
Troops in Tbilisi
28 Sep: Thousands rally in Tbilisi against President Saakashvili after arrest of his former ally and ex-defence minister Irakli Okruashvili
2 Nov: About 50,000 attend anti-Saakashvili rally outside parliament, calling for early elections and for Mr Saakashvili to quit
7 Nov: Riot police use force to disperse protesters after six days of opposition rallies, Mr Saakashvili imposes state of emergency
8 Nov: Mr Saakashvili calls early elections for January
9 Nov: Parliament approves state of emergency decree
Mr Saakashvili is taking a gamble by calling early elections but it is one he believes he can win, says the BBC's Matthew Collin in Tbilisi.
In his announcement on Thursday, the president said he would hold a referendum, simultaneously with the presidential vote, on whether to bring those polls forward to the spring.
No opposition figure has emerged who could seriously challenge him in the presidential elections, says our correspondent.
Georgia's opposition accuses the president of corruption and authoritarianism.
They have welcomed the election call as a "victory of the people", and predicted the president would lose.
Mr Saakashvili said on Wednesday that "Russian special services" were behind the unrest in Tbilisi and expelled three Russian diplomats.
Two opposition figures, Shalva Natelashvili and Tsotne Gamsakhurdia, have been accused of spying and plotting a coup in league with the expelled Russian diplomats.
Russia has rejected the claims and expelled three Georgian diplomats.
Georgia's prosecutor general's office said it suspected billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili of plotting a coup and wanted him for questioning.
Mr Patarkatsishvili finances opposition parties and is the owner of Imedi television, which was taken off the air on Wednesday following the police action against the protesters.
Krypton
quote:
Originally posted by ams.rld
The country isn't that beautiful....sober up first.
