Seraphim
11-23-2003, 10:53 AM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031123/ap_on_re_eu/georgia_protests&cid=518&ncid=716
By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI, Associated Press Writer
TBILISI, Georgia - Some military units began to join tens of thousands of opposition protesters dancing and singing in the streets of Georgia's capital Sunday as support for President Eduard Shevardnadze showed cracks and the opposition urged its followers to seize more levers of power.
The drive to oust Shevardnadze grew bolder as the defense minister acknowledged that the president was no longer in control of this tiny Caucasus nation and said that, for now, the military would not intervene, a day after opposition protesters seized parliament and declared a new, interim government.
More than 50,000 boisterous opposition supporters celebrated in the square outside parliament Sunday, with more streaming in. Protesters sang soulful Georgian folk songs, danced and waved flags.
Demonstrators embraced a unit of 50 Defense Ministry soldiers who arrived in the square to join the opposition movement. Protesters heaved some of the soldiers into the air in jubilation.
Independent Rustavi-2 television showed another unit, this one of 120 National Guard troops, mingling with the protesters. The soldiers' unidentified commander said the troops pledged loyalty to the interim president named by the opposition, Nino Burdzhanadze.
With Shevardnadze refusing to step down, Russia's foreign minister shuttled between the beleaguered president and his opponents, seeking a peaceful way out of the impasse. He told Georgian television that he hoped the two sides would sit down for face-to-face talks.
The United States has kept a neutral stance, saying only that both sides should avoid violence.
Russia and the United States both fear instability in the ex-Soviet republic, strategically located on the borders of Russia and Turkey, between the oil-rich Caspian Sea and the ports of the Black Sea. Russia has military units stationed in Georgia. U.S. troops are also in the country on a counter-terrorism mission, training Georgian forces to uproot Islamic insurgents from neighboring Chechnya (news - web sites) who take refuge in Georgia's mountainous terrain.
The political crisis reached a new peak Saturday when the opposition broke into parliament and took it over, saying the Nov. 2 elections that chose the new body were rigged. Burdzhanadze, an opposition figure and speaker of the outgoing parliament, proclaimed herself acting president until early elections in 45 days.
Shevardnadze, the country's president for the past decade, was chased from the parliament chamber and later, with the backing of his head of police, declared a state of emergency.
Shevardnadze went on state television Sunday and said he was willing to meet the opposition. But he said that if they did not abandon the parliament building, he would take steps to enact the state of emergency he announced Saturday.
But while the interior minister — in charge of internal security forces — has pledged to follow the president's orders. There were signs of spilts in the security ranks.
"Not a single soldier or policeman will obey Shevardnadze's orders to fire at people," protest leader Mikhail Saakashvili told the crowds massed outside parliament Sunday.
He urged the protesters to seize the Interior Ministry if Shevardnadze tries to convene a new parliament there. He also called on them to begin ousting local administrators appointed by Shevardnadze and take control of state television, which he accused of airing "pro-Shevardnadze propaganda."
In a signal of faltering loyalties in Shevardnadze's inner circle, his international legal affairs adviser Levan Alexadze defected to the opposition.
"Maybe Georgia has a legitimate president, but Nino Burdzhanadze is a real president," he told Rustavi 2 television.
Shevardnadze also sacked Tedo Dzhaparidze, his top security aide, who on Friday publicly acknowledged fraud in they elections and called for a new vote, the president's office said.
On Saturday night, Rustavi-2 television broadcast a statement from Col. Kote Danelia, the commander of a motorized brigade, who said he would not obey if ordered to move against protesters.
Defense Minister David Tevzadze declared that he remained loyal to Shevardnadze but acknowledged the president was not in control.
"There is a legitimate government, but parallel to that there exists an organ, I don't know how to call it, which is controlling developments," Tevzadze said.
He called for a political solution to the stand-off, saying the military would not resort to force — and had not been ordered by Shevardnadze to put down the opposition.
"On the contrary, I have received warnings that there should be no action that could lead to bloodshed," he told reporters. "The state of emergency doesn't envisage the use of military force to establish order."
"The army believes it necessary to establish a regime that would ensure citizens' safety until the situation is settled," he said. "The army will monitor developments, and if the situation spins out of control it will fulfill its constitutional duty."
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov met with opposition leaders and then sat down with Shevardnadze at a government residence on the outskirts of Tbilisi. After those talks he went back to the opposition for more talks.
"It's necessary to bring the developments into the constitutional framework and avoid provocations," Ivanov told the crowd of opposition protesters. "Russia won't intervene in the situation in Georgia."
The opposition has pressed Shevardnadze to step down immediately instead of waiting until 2005, when his term ends. The elections, which the United States also criticized as fraudulent, became a tipping point for a population fed up with the poverty, corruption and crime that have dogged Georgia for more than a decade.
By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI, Associated Press Writer
TBILISI, Georgia - Some military units began to join tens of thousands of opposition protesters dancing and singing in the streets of Georgia's capital Sunday as support for President Eduard Shevardnadze showed cracks and the opposition urged its followers to seize more levers of power.
The drive to oust Shevardnadze grew bolder as the defense minister acknowledged that the president was no longer in control of this tiny Caucasus nation and said that, for now, the military would not intervene, a day after opposition protesters seized parliament and declared a new, interim government.
More than 50,000 boisterous opposition supporters celebrated in the square outside parliament Sunday, with more streaming in. Protesters sang soulful Georgian folk songs, danced and waved flags.
Demonstrators embraced a unit of 50 Defense Ministry soldiers who arrived in the square to join the opposition movement. Protesters heaved some of the soldiers into the air in jubilation.
Independent Rustavi-2 television showed another unit, this one of 120 National Guard troops, mingling with the protesters. The soldiers' unidentified commander said the troops pledged loyalty to the interim president named by the opposition, Nino Burdzhanadze.
With Shevardnadze refusing to step down, Russia's foreign minister shuttled between the beleaguered president and his opponents, seeking a peaceful way out of the impasse. He told Georgian television that he hoped the two sides would sit down for face-to-face talks.
The United States has kept a neutral stance, saying only that both sides should avoid violence.
Russia and the United States both fear instability in the ex-Soviet republic, strategically located on the borders of Russia and Turkey, between the oil-rich Caspian Sea and the ports of the Black Sea. Russia has military units stationed in Georgia. U.S. troops are also in the country on a counter-terrorism mission, training Georgian forces to uproot Islamic insurgents from neighboring Chechnya (news - web sites) who take refuge in Georgia's mountainous terrain.
The political crisis reached a new peak Saturday when the opposition broke into parliament and took it over, saying the Nov. 2 elections that chose the new body were rigged. Burdzhanadze, an opposition figure and speaker of the outgoing parliament, proclaimed herself acting president until early elections in 45 days.
Shevardnadze, the country's president for the past decade, was chased from the parliament chamber and later, with the backing of his head of police, declared a state of emergency.
Shevardnadze went on state television Sunday and said he was willing to meet the opposition. But he said that if they did not abandon the parliament building, he would take steps to enact the state of emergency he announced Saturday.
But while the interior minister — in charge of internal security forces — has pledged to follow the president's orders. There were signs of spilts in the security ranks.
"Not a single soldier or policeman will obey Shevardnadze's orders to fire at people," protest leader Mikhail Saakashvili told the crowds massed outside parliament Sunday.
He urged the protesters to seize the Interior Ministry if Shevardnadze tries to convene a new parliament there. He also called on them to begin ousting local administrators appointed by Shevardnadze and take control of state television, which he accused of airing "pro-Shevardnadze propaganda."
In a signal of faltering loyalties in Shevardnadze's inner circle, his international legal affairs adviser Levan Alexadze defected to the opposition.
"Maybe Georgia has a legitimate president, but Nino Burdzhanadze is a real president," he told Rustavi 2 television.
Shevardnadze also sacked Tedo Dzhaparidze, his top security aide, who on Friday publicly acknowledged fraud in they elections and called for a new vote, the president's office said.
On Saturday night, Rustavi-2 television broadcast a statement from Col. Kote Danelia, the commander of a motorized brigade, who said he would not obey if ordered to move against protesters.
Defense Minister David Tevzadze declared that he remained loyal to Shevardnadze but acknowledged the president was not in control.
"There is a legitimate government, but parallel to that there exists an organ, I don't know how to call it, which is controlling developments," Tevzadze said.
He called for a political solution to the stand-off, saying the military would not resort to force — and had not been ordered by Shevardnadze to put down the opposition.
"On the contrary, I have received warnings that there should be no action that could lead to bloodshed," he told reporters. "The state of emergency doesn't envisage the use of military force to establish order."
"The army believes it necessary to establish a regime that would ensure citizens' safety until the situation is settled," he said. "The army will monitor developments, and if the situation spins out of control it will fulfill its constitutional duty."
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov met with opposition leaders and then sat down with Shevardnadze at a government residence on the outskirts of Tbilisi. After those talks he went back to the opposition for more talks.
"It's necessary to bring the developments into the constitutional framework and avoid provocations," Ivanov told the crowd of opposition protesters. "Russia won't intervene in the situation in Georgia."
The opposition has pressed Shevardnadze to step down immediately instead of waiting until 2005, when his term ends. The elections, which the United States also criticized as fraudulent, became a tipping point for a population fed up with the poverty, corruption and crime that have dogged Georgia for more than a decade.