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POLICE BEAT DOZENS OF OPPOSITION PROTESTERS IN GEORGIA
/PanARMENIAN.Net/
15.06.2009 21:47 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Masked police beat dozens of opposition protesters
in the Georgian capital on Monday in the latest flare-up during a
weeks-long street campaign against President Mikheil Saakashvili,
witnesses said.
Dozens of black-clad police officers armed with truncheons confronted
a protest of about 50 people at Tbilisi's main police station demanding
the release of six opposition activists detained since Friday.
Police seized cameras from photographers and cameramen, including a
Reuters photographer. The cameras were later returned but the Reuters
photographer's images had been erased. Other photographers said their
memory cards had been taken.
Tensions are running high in the former Soviet republic, after more
than two months of opposition protests and roadblocks demanding
Saakashvili quit over his record on democracy and last year's
disastrous war with Russia.
The volatile country of 4.5 million people sits on Russia's southern
border, at the heart of a transit region for oil and gas to the West.
"This is absolutely unacceptable," protest leader and former
Saakashvili ally Nino Burjanadze said of the violence. "We demand
a response from our Western partners, to give their assessment of
the situation."
Saakashvili said he was tolerating a state of "lawlessness" and
accused his opponents of trying to provoke him.
"They think Saakashvili is hot-headed, they insult (parliament speaker
David) Bakradze and (Prime Minister Nika) Gilauri, and they try to
make us crush them," he told a televised meeting of the parliamentary
majority.
Police firing tear gas and rubber bullets dispersed the last mass
demonstrations against Saakashvili in 2007. Watched closely by the
West, authorities are wary of taking a hard line again, but analysts
question how long the stalemate can continue.
Both sides have traded blame for a spate of violent incidents, vying
for the sympathy of Georgia's Western allies.
The opposition said that statements by several Western embassies on
Friday, in which they criticized opposition protesters for throwing
rocks and bottles at Bakradze's official car, had encouraged the
government to take a hard line.
"The statements made by the U.S., French and Czech ambassadors clearly
gave impetus to the authorities to act as criminals and bandits today,"
opposition leader David Gamkrelidze said.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that protesters were
hampering traffic and resisted police efforts "to unblock the entrance
to the police station and restore traffic movement." It said 39
protesters were detained.
Deputy Interior Minister Eka Zguladze said police had acted
inappropriately toward journalists. "It is our mistake. We admit it
and apologize," she told a news conference.
Pro-opposition television stations Maestro and Kavkasia said they
would temporarily halt broadcasting in protest.
Turnout at the demonstrations has waned, but dozens of mock prison
cells erected around parliament continue to block traffic through
central Tbilisi. Earlier on Monday, men in civilian clothes armed
with knives broke up mock prison cells behind parliament.
The opposition accuse 41-year-old Saakashvili of monopolizing power
since the 2003 "Rose Revolution" that propelled him to the presidency.
He has faced renewed pressure since last August, when Russia crushed
a Georgian assault on the breakaway pro-Russian region of South
Ossetia. But analysts question whether the opposition has the unity
or the numbers to unseat him, Reuters reported.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/
15.06.2009 21:47 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Masked police beat dozens of opposition protesters
in the Georgian capital on Monday in the latest flare-up during a
weeks-long street campaign against President Mikheil Saakashvili,
witnesses said.
Dozens of black-clad police officers armed with truncheons confronted
a protest of about 50 people at Tbilisi's main police station demanding
the release of six opposition activists detained since Friday.
Police seized cameras from photographers and cameramen, including a
Reuters photographer. The cameras were later returned but the Reuters
photographer's images had been erased. Other photographers said their
memory cards had been taken.
Tensions are running high in the former Soviet republic, after more
than two months of opposition protests and roadblocks demanding
Saakashvili quit over his record on democracy and last year's
disastrous war with Russia.
The volatile country of 4.5 million people sits on Russia's southern
border, at the heart of a transit region for oil and gas to the West.
"This is absolutely unacceptable," protest leader and former
Saakashvili ally Nino Burjanadze said of the violence. "We demand
a response from our Western partners, to give their assessment of
the situation."
Saakashvili said he was tolerating a state of "lawlessness" and
accused his opponents of trying to provoke him.
"They think Saakashvili is hot-headed, they insult (parliament speaker
David) Bakradze and (Prime Minister Nika) Gilauri, and they try to
make us crush them," he told a televised meeting of the parliamentary
majority.
Police firing tear gas and rubber bullets dispersed the last mass
demonstrations against Saakashvili in 2007. Watched closely by the
West, authorities are wary of taking a hard line again, but analysts
question how long the stalemate can continue.
Both sides have traded blame for a spate of violent incidents, vying
for the sympathy of Georgia's Western allies.
The opposition said that statements by several Western embassies on
Friday, in which they criticized opposition protesters for throwing
rocks and bottles at Bakradze's official car, had encouraged the
government to take a hard line.
"The statements made by the U.S., French and Czech ambassadors clearly
gave impetus to the authorities to act as criminals and bandits today,"
opposition leader David Gamkrelidze said.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that protesters were
hampering traffic and resisted police efforts "to unblock the entrance
to the police station and restore traffic movement." It said 39
protesters were detained.
Deputy Interior Minister Eka Zguladze said police had acted
inappropriately toward journalists. "It is our mistake. We admit it
and apologize," she told a news conference.
Pro-opposition television stations Maestro and Kavkasia said they
would temporarily halt broadcasting in protest.
Turnout at the demonstrations has waned, but dozens of mock prison
cells erected around parliament continue to block traffic through
central Tbilisi. Earlier on Monday, men in civilian clothes armed
with knives broke up mock prison cells behind parliament.
The opposition accuse 41-year-old Saakashvili of monopolizing power
since the 2003 "Rose Revolution" that propelled him to the presidency.
He has faced renewed pressure since last August, when Russia crushed
a Georgian assault on the breakaway pro-Russian region of South
Ossetia. But analysts question whether the opposition has the unity
or the numbers to unseat him, Reuters reported.