GEORGIA: GEORGIANS PREPARE FOR A FRESH START FOLLOWING DRAMATIC RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT EDUARD SHEVARDNADZE

Record ID: 584792

  • Title: GEORGIA: GEORGIANS PREPARE FOR A FRESH START FOLLOWING DRAMATIC RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT EDUARD SHEVARDNADZE
  • Date: 24th November 2003
  • Summary: (W3) TBILISI, GEORGIA (NOVEMBER 24, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. WS: EXTERIOR OF GOVERNMENT BUILDING IN CENTRAL TBILISI/ GIANT OPPOSITION FLAG OUTSIDE BUILDING 0.08 2. WS: EXTERIOR OF PARLIAMENT BUILDING/ PEOPLE IN FRONT OF BUILDING 0.14 3. FLAG FLYING ON TOP OF PARLIAMENT BUILDING 0.21 4. CU: FLAGS 0.27 5. WOMAN WAVING NATIONAL FLAG OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT BUILDING 0.32 6. MUNICIPAL WORKERS CLEANING UP STREET IN FRONT OF BUILDING 0.39 7. OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS KEEPING WARM NEAR FIRE 0.45 8. CU: FIRE 0.48 9. LV: TRAFFIC ON STREET 0.56 10. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) TAMARA SAYING: "I'm very happy because I want our people to live happily without Shevardnadze." 1.07 11. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) GOGA SAYING: "We came here (to Tbilisi) to voice our mistrust of already former President Shevardnadze and his government. We trust Borzhunadze, Saakashvili and Zurab Zhvania and we hope for us (all) a sweet future." 1.29 12. (SOUNDBITE) (Russia) ZURAB SAYING: "It's good for me, it's good for all of us because new people (leadership) are coming in and new life (for us) is going to be good." 1.41 13. SCHOOL CHILDREN ACCOMPANIED BY THEIR MOTHERS, GOING TO SCHOOL (2 SHOTS) 2.01 14. WOMAN READING NEWSPAPER 2.07 15. VARIOUS OF NEWSPAPER STAND/ NEWSPAPER HEADLINES (3 SHOTS) 2.27 16. PEOPLE BUYING NEWSPAPERS 2.35 17. WS/SV: BUSES WAITING TO TAKE OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS BACK TO THEIR HOME TOWNS FROM TBILISI (2 SHOTS) 2.50 18. OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS NEAR BUSES/ SOME HOLDING PLACARDS WITH PICTURES OF MAIN OPPOSITION LEADER MIKHAIL SAAKASHVILI 2.56 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 9th December 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TBILISI, GEORGIA
  • Country: Georgia
  • Reuters ID: LVA9QJD127LIRFPXRMKXW5P24M0D
  • Story Text: Georgians prepare for a fresh start as interim
    leadership seeks international support.


    After a night of celebrations, the people of Georgia
    prepared for a fresh start on Monday (November 24) after
    the dramatic resignation of President Eduard Shevardnadze.

    Streets in the centre of the capital Tbilisi had an air
    of normality about them as people went to work and
    municipal workers cleaned up the debris from a night of
    massive street celebrations.

    The country's interim leadership has promised to hold
    fresh elections within 45 days. Georgia's new leaders won
    U.S. support and said they would seek urgent international
    financial aid on Monday after President Shevardnadze was
    ousted in a bloodless revolution.

    Washington backed the new interim president, outgoing
    parliament speaker Nino Burdzhanadze, to promote fresh
    elections in the impoverished former Soviet republic after
    Shevardnadze bowed to mass protests over alleged
    vote-rigging and resigned.

    Burdzhanadze urged Georgians to work to restore order
    quickly in the Caucasus mountain state, anxiously watched
    in the West because a pipeline is being built through its
    territory to carry Caspian oil to the Mediterranean Sea.

    Burdzhanadze had lined up alongside the main opposition
    leader, Mikhail Saakashvili, to turn the protests against
    alleged election fraud into a movement to replace the
    president in the country of five million.

    Presidential elections should be held within 45 days
    under the constitution, but the status of the contested new
    parliament is ambiguous. Burdzhanadze will be acting
    president during the 45-day period.

    Tens of thousands of Georgians celebrated into the
    night in the capital Tbilisi after hounding Shevardnadze,
    75, from office over accusations he rigged November 2
    parliamentary polls won by his supporters.

    Many hoped for a fresh start in a country where public
    sector salaries average $20 a month. Georgians fought a
    bloody civil war in the early 1990s and two regions have
    broken away from central government rule.





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