GEORGIA: POLITICS - Thousands of Saakashvili supporters gather for their first opposition protest since the president's party's defeat in parliamentary elections last year
Record ID:
213954
GEORGIA: POLITICS - Thousands of Saakashvili supporters gather for their first opposition protest since the president's party's defeat in parliamentary elections last year
- Title: GEORGIA: POLITICS - Thousands of Saakashvili supporters gather for their first opposition protest since the president's party's defeat in parliamentary elections last year
- Date: 19th April 2013
- Summary: TBILISI, GEORGIA (APRIL 19, 2013) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS STANDING IN FRONT OF FORMER PARLIAMENT BUILDING UNITED NATIONAL MOVEMENT PARTY ACTIVIST AND FORMER JUSTICE MINISTER, GIORGI VASHADZE, ADDRESSING CROWD FROM STAGE SUPPORTERS CHEERING AND WAVING FLAGS FORMER PARLIAMENT SPEAKER, DAVID BAKRADZE AND CITY MAYOR GIGI UGULAVA STANDING ON STAGE WITH OTHERS PARTY ACTIVISTS YOUNG MAN WITH GEORGIAN AND U.S. FLAGS PAINTED ON HIS FACE LISTENING PEOPLE AT RALLY (SOUNDBITE) (Georgian) THE UNITED NATIONAL MOVEMENT PARTY ACTIVIST AND FORMER JUSTICE MINISTER, GIORGI VASHADZE, SAYING: "And this new patriotic movement is based on three main principles: first national liberty, second personal and economic liberty, and third the modernisation of our country and understanding of the new role of Georgia in the world, and in the entire development of the world. That is what we are starting today." POSTER READING IN ENGLISH: 'ANY COUNTRY BUT RUSSIA! NO WAY BUT WEST!' PEOPLE APPLAUDING AMBULANCES ON STREET PACKED WITH PROTEST PARTICIPANTS SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONAL MOVEMENT PARTY AND FORMER PRIME MINISTER, VANO MERABISHVILI, STANDING ON STAGE PROTEST IN PROGRESS GEORGIAN PRESIDENT MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI WALKING IN CROWD OF SUPPORTERS SUPPORTERS CHANTING PRESIDENT SAAKASHVILI'S NAME: "MISHA, MISHA" (SOUNDBITE) (Georgian) GEORGIAN PRESIDENT MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI, SAYING: "I want to tell them (the new government) that I want us to offer hands (of friendship) to each other. Look at us - if we are optimistic after so much fighting, such humiliating accusations, you should be optimistic and hopeful. We all should be optimistic, Georgia should be optimistic together with an optimistic government and optimistic society." PEOPLE LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Georgian) TBILISI RESIDENT BADRI SHUBLADZE, SAYING: "We should join NATO by all means. This is my first demand. This is the future of my motherland, my Georgia, the future of my children. I want my children to have future!" PEOPLE CHANTING: "GEORGIA, GEORGIA!" (SOUNDBITE) (Georgian) PROTEST PARTICIPANT NANA NADIRADZE, SAYING: "I came here for the European future of my country, towards the West only, only towards the West! I urge both the youth and the people of my age to do so." SAAKASHVILI GREETING PEOPLE FROM STAGE CROWED CHEERING
- Embargoed: 4th May 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Georgia
- Country: Georgia
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAAW5IR52L6ZGVH2HFC484ZQYFG
- Story Text: Over 10 000 of President Mikheil Saakashvili's supporters gathered in Tbilisi on Friday (April 19) in the opposition's first rally staged since the defeat of Saakashvili's party in last year's parliamentary elections.
The rally, called to defend Georgia's pro-western foreign policy, has widely been seen as a crucial test of support for the United National Movement party, which has dominated the country's political scene for nine years.
Activists at the meeting, which took place in front of Georgia's former parliament building, waved U.S. and Georgian flags and chanted Mikheil Saakashvili's nickname 'Misha'.
"And this new patriotic movement is based on three main principles: first national liberty, second personal and economic liberty, and third the modernisation of our country and understanding of the new role of Georgia in the world, and in the entire development of the world. That is what we are starting today," former justice minister Giorgi Vashadze told Reuters after he addressed the crowd.
Political tensions have been rising in Georgia since Saakashvili's ruling party was ousted by an opposition coalition led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who became a prime minister after the Oct 1 election in the ex-Soviet Caucasus republic.
Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, 57, has been trying to assert his supremacy over Saakashvili since he took office last October, creating an awkward power-sharing arrangement.
The Georgian parliament unanimously passed a constitutional change that watered down the president's powers and removed his authority to dismiss the government and parliament.
President Saakashvili, who made an appearance at the protest towards the end said that his party was ready to offer cooperation to the new government for the benefit of the country.
"I want to tell them (the new government) that I want us to offer hands (of friendship) to each other. Look at us - if we are optimistic after so much fighting, such humiliating accusations, you should be optimistic and hopeful. We all should be optimistic, Georgia should be optimistic together with an optimistic government and optimistic society," Saakashvili told his supporters.
Saakashvili's United National Movement party, now in minority in the parliament, is ready to give a green light to many amendments in constitution, but wants the parliament to imprint Georgia's pro-Western course in foreign policy in the constitution.
Many Georgians are worried about the possible shift towards Russia, as Prime Minister Ivanishvili has pledged to prioritise relations with the West, following in U.S. ally Saakashvili's footsteps, but says he wants to improve ties with Moscow, badly damaged by a five-day war in 2008.
"We should join NATO by all means. This is my first demand. This is the future of my motherland, my Georgia, the future of my children. I want my children to have future!" Tbilisi resident Badri Shubladze told Reuters.
"I came here for the European future of my country, towards the West only, only towards the West! I urge both the youth and the people of my age to do so," protest participant Nana Nadiradze said.
Saakashvili, who was swept to power by the peaceful 2003 Rose Revolution, is due to remain in the presidency until an election in October this year.
European and U.S. diplomats have called for cooperation between Ivanishvili and Saakashvili and urged Georgia's new government to avoid selective justice and political persecution against political opponents in the ex-Soviet republic.
Instability in the Caucasus country would worry the West because it is a conduit for Caspian Sea energy supplies to Europe and has a strategic location on the Black Sea between former Soviet master Russia and Iran, Turkey and central Asia. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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