Thursday, May 26, 2011

A protest in the capital of Georgia is settled with two deaths

Dozens of Georgian opposition were arrested on Wednesday when riot police repress opposition protest in front of the parliament building in Tbilisi. In these demonstrations have killed two people including a policeman. The policeman died and a former officer were killed in a car accident. According to sources, the driver of another car was one of the organizers of the protests, which disappeared after the crash.

Nino Burdzhanadze, leader of the opposition 'Consejo Popular' (CP), an organization called the protests, complained to the television channel 'Master', "This is a crime. Several opposition leaders have been injured after being hit by rubber bullets" . According to ministry spokesman, Chota Outiachvili, "37 people have been hospitalized, 28 of them are opponents and nine policemen." Georgian police decided to intervene after some 5,000 opponents who had gathered for several hours on Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi's main street, refused to disperse.

Several hundred riot troops and special forces police charged the demonstrators with batons, rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons from armored vehicles and fire trucks. As the channel 'Master', an unknown number of wounded opponents and the length of one hundred meters separating the Parliament of the Independence Square are traces of blood.

"Now a new phase in our struggle. We will continue our opposition to the Georgian regime," said Burdzhanadze, former president of Parliament and former ally of President Mikhail Saakashvili. Opponents had camped outside parliament to prevent the military parade to be held this Thursday on the occasion of Independence Day and many of them armed with sticks, took the podium from which the Georgian president will preside over the stop.

"Misha go already," the protesters shouted, referring to Saakashvili, in power since 2003. The digital press had predicted that the authorities would resort to force to disperse the opposition, they only had permission to show up until midnight. "We will defend punches," said Burdzhanadze, whom the authorities accuse of being a Kremlin agent.

Representatives Hall in the capital tried to persuade the opposition leaders, but, having failed his attempt for dialogue, the authorities decided to suppress the protest after midnight. Saakashvili's supporters had been advanced that the parade would take place regardless of protests from the opposition, which had warned of serious consequences if they violated the law and alter the public order.

"Georgia is a democratic country and holding protest actions is a normal phenomenon if they respect the laws. Otherwise, the response will be consistent with existing law, "said Nugzar Tsiklauri, head of the Diaspora Committee of Parliament, the Russian news agency Interfax. The Georgian opposition said Wednesday for the fifth straight day to demand the resignation irrevocable Saakashvili, who they accuse of authoritarianism and that is the main U.S.

ally in the Caucasus. The 'People's Council' has reported that in recent days many activists from the opposition have been imprisoned or repressed in the country. On , the head of parliament's foreign committee of Georgia, Akaki Minashvili, reported this week that Russia is behind the opposition protests.

On Saturday, Georgian police and several thousand charged against opponents who demanded the resignation of Saakashvili in the capital and in the city of Batumi, protests that led to the arrest of 300 protesters. Georgia has not fully recovered from the massive stability opposition protests in November 2007, which forced Saakashvili to declare a state of exception.

Opposition parties accuse Saakashvili re-elected by fraud and to blame the defeat in the war against Russia for control of separatist South Ossetia, which would have prevented the entry of Georgia into NATO.

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