Mass anti-president protests begin in Georgia's capital

Mass anti-president protests begin in Georgia's capital

en.rian.ru

Tens of thousands of demonstrators began a rally on Thursday outside Georgia's parliament in Tbilisi, demanding President Mikheil Saakashvili's resignation.

...

Saakashvili's popularity has plummeted since last August's disastrous war with Russia, and his failure to carry out the democratic reforms promised after the 2003 "Rose Revolution" that brought him to power.

Reporters in Tbilisi estimate that a total of 100,000 people have so far joined the rally...

(visit the link for the full news article)


[edit on 9-4-2009 by maloy]

For those of you who were following the events in Georgia since the "Rose Revolution" (a US backed coup that installed Saakashvilli into power) should have a pretty good idea of why these protests are held, and they should not come as a surprise.

Saakashvilli has already failed on his promised reforms - as he hasn't really achieved anything progressive economically or socially for the country during the last 4 years. That made him already unpopular. But then he drove what was left of his popularity head first into the ground by starting a war in South Ossetia - a war he could not win.

Ever since losing the August war Saakashvilli has been quickly clamping down on power in every way he could - afraid that he would be toppled from within. He created a police state, and blocked opposition's access to the media. Now his time seems to be coming to the end.



The main lesson here is that this is the eventual unravelling of a US puppet state. Saakashvilli was placed in power with the full backing of the Bush administration, and was a sort of "Washington's favorit puppet", at least untill the August war. He named the main street in Tbilisi after Bush for gods sakes.

I have personally predicted his fall ever since the war in South Ossetia. And I predicted he would not be removed by Russia or another outside power, but by his own people. I don't know if these protests will bring him down peacefully or not, but this is too many people to ignore. Every previous regime in Georgia has ended up being toppled. I just hope for the sake of Georgians that this does not turn violent.

Another source from BBC:

news.bbc.co.uk...

en.rian.ru
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 9-4-2009 by maloy]

Damn occult governments must be destroyed, not supported.

Revolution in Georgia, " Sakashvili Must Go ! ", Says Georgian Populace

The people of Georgia are furious with Sakashvili and his criminal regime, not only did he start and lose a humiliating war in South Ossetia in which many people suffered needlessly, he is seen as an all out failure and a puppet of the West and the International Banking Cartel.

AlJazeera.net

Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, calling for the resignation of their country’s president.

Opposition leaders, who expect 100,000 people to take part in the action, say they will carry on protesting until Mikheil Saakashvili, the president, resigns.

At least 50,000 demonstrators gathered outside parliament on Thursday afternoon, waving opposition flags and chanting “resign”.

“We have no other way out but to stand here until the end, until the Judas of Georgian politics resigns,” Levan Gachechiladze, opposition leader and former presidential candidate, told the crowd.

Shota Utiashvili, a Georgian interior ministry spokesman, told Al Jazeera the police would not be taking heavy action against protesters.

Saakashvili.... Hmm...

Rings a bell. Oh the crazy, Western-backed puppet the US supported in South Ossetia?

And he was supposed to be the "epitome" of a post-Soviet democracy according to Condolezza. So much for that theory.

Some fun facts about Mr. Saakashvili:

The Western-educated, staunchly pro-American Saakashvili came to power in the highly controversial "Rose Revolution" where Mikhail Saakashvili despite the fact he did not win any Presidential Election, simply booted Eduard Shevardnadze out of office 2 years before the end of his term.

Good. I hope they can kick him out and have a more sane leader so things can calm down in that area. Hopefully the new leader will make peace with Abkhazia and South Ossetia and make some kind of treaty.

If the new leaders could turn his country neutral... no NATO and no Russia, peaceful with both...

Next leaders that must be kicked out, Ukraine leaders. Ukraine entering NATO would make things only worse. Kicking Russia out of Sevastopol is a big sign that they want to be in NATO.

[edit on 14-4-2009 by Vitchilo]

I have one word that describes what SHOULD have been done to avoid everything going on right now over there.



Referendum.



It's what free countries are supposed to do when the majority of a province/state want to be free from the current federal control.

And it's what Georgia refused to do...
... instead, they rolled out their military to teach South Ossetia a lesson for wanting independence.

That's not what a free country does, that's what an angry dictatorship does!


One would hope national governments would be mature enough to get beyond the "If I can't have you no-one will" mentality... but alas... that's just too much to hope for.

Give South Ossetia the keys to their own region. Let them decide who governs it. (Do the same for Abkhazia while your at it.)
If they vote to have Georgia as their national government, fine, if they vote to have Russia as their national government, then step aside and let the people have what they want!