PROTESTERS stormed Georgia’s parliament yesterday, forcing President Eduard Shevardnadze to flee as thousands demanded his resignation.
The former Soviet foreign minister and darling of the West called a state of emergency after being whisked away from the parliament in Tbilisi by armed bodyguards after the opposition supporters broke into the building.
Minutes after 75-year-old
Shevardnadze convened the newly elected parliament, opposition leader Mikhail Saakashvili led hundreds of his supporters into the chamber. They overturned desks and chairs and leapt on to the podium. Shevardnadze was whisked out of the hall, as fist fights broke out when Saakashvili ordered all pro-government law-makers to exit the building.
"The velvet revolution has taken place in Georgia," Saakashvili announced, amid scenes reminiscent of the ‘people power’ protests in eastern Europe in 1989.
After taking over the parliament, the protesters moved on to occupy the president’s office. Georgian television showed demonstrators burning Shevardnadze’s chair.
The parliamentary showdown came as tens of thousands of opposition protesters marched in Tbilisi, waving flags and chanting "Leave" and "Enough".
The poverty-stricken ex-Soviet republic slid into its biggest political crisis in years after the parliamentary elections on November 2, which the opposition and many foreign observers claimed were rigged in favour of pro-Shevardnadze forces.
But the roots lie in the deep economic misery of most of the population and the rampant corruption that has characterised Shevardnadze’s reign. Saakashvili has capitalised on the corruption allegations, and promised to confiscate allegedly stolen property from crooked officials.
Amid the chaos yesterday parliamentary speaker Nino Burdzhanadze declared herself acting president until early elections in 45 days time.
Burdzhanadze said that "if the president will decide to call new parliamentary elections, presidential elections, I think it will be some way out of this crisis". Earlier Saakashvili reportedly said Shevardnadze could remain in office if he calls early elections.
Although visibly shaken by events, Shevardnadze was defiant as he was bundled into his car outside the parliament. "I will not resign," he said. "I will resign when the presidential term expires, according to the constitution." His office later branded the opposition’s actions an "armed state coup".
Reports said the president was taken to a defence ministry training centre, while other media organisations claimed that he went to a government residence on the outskirts of Tbilisi.
"I am now announcing a state of emergency," Shevardnadze said in a televised statement. "Order will be restored and the criminals will be punished." He said both interior and defence ministry troops would be involved.
Koba Narchemashvili, the interior minister, at Shevardnadze’s side, said on television that he would obey all the president’s orders.
There was no sign last night that the police and military had switched allegiance from Shevardnadze, but they were acting with great restraint and did not confront the protesters.
Shevardnadze said on television that the interior ministry troops could have opened fire on the demonstrators who stormed into parliament, but he forbade the use of force.
"I said there should be no bloodshed," he said. Saakashvili appealed to troops not to intervene.
Outside the parliament, the opposition seized control of the square that had initially been occupied by pro-Shevardnadze forces. Some of the pro-government deputies were beaten as they left the area, but largely the crowd remained peaceful.
Former parliament speaker Zurab Zhvania, a leader of Burdzhanadze’s party, addressed the people in front of the parliament. He asked them not to leave, saying: "We are celebrating victory, but we have to defend it."
Both pro and anti-Shevardnadze forces had vowed to avoid bloodshed but also refused to budge from their increasingly intractable positions.
As tension escalated early yesterday, Shevardnadze appeared to soften his position. He acknowledged that there had been some breaches in the election, which the pro-Shevardnadze party won according to official results. "About 8% to 10% of the ballots were invalid," he said, but added that this should be dealt with in the courts.
According to final results, the pro-Shevardnadze For a New Georgia bloc came in first with 21.32% of the vote, while the Revival party, which sometimes has been critical of the government but sided with Shevardnadze in the present crisis, finished second with 18.84%.
Saakashvili’s National Movement came in a very close third with 18.08% of the vote, while the Democrats who allied with Saakashvili picked up 8.8%.
Russia, which remains a key power in the region, also said the election was marred and called for the "mistakes to be corrected, but in the realm of the law".
"The alternative is chaos," the Russian foreign ministry warned. Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov was being dispatched to Tbilisi.
The Foreign Office in London appealed for calm. A spokesman said: "It is clearly a matter of concern. We would appeal for calm and we are keeping in touch with our embassy in Tbilisi." Britons travelling to Georgia had already been warned of possible unrest.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States was carefully watching the situation in Georgia. "We call on all sides to refrain from the use of force or violence, and to enter into a dialogue with a view to restoring calm and reaching a compromise solution acceptable to all and in the interest of Georgia," he said.
Shevardnadze has long claimed that he is key to maintaining stability in the turbulent, strategically located nation, which has been riven by a civil war and the secession of two provinces following the 1991 Soviet collapse.
But the parliamentary elections this month were the climax to a decade of broken promises, for which many citizens blame Shevardnadze. He is accused of failing to deliver his country from unresolved conflicts, electricity crises, poverty and corruption.
Shevardnadze’s original promises of democratic reform were backed by billions in foreign aid from the US - Georgia was one of Washington’s largest per capita aid recipients. And after the September 11 attacks, Shevardnadze was quick to align himself with President George Bush in the war against terror. The US sent troops to Georgia to hunt for al-Qaeda militants said to be using the Pankisi Gorge close to Chechnya as a haven.
Georgians also blame the president for the loss of Abkhazia, which broke away from Georgia with the help of Russian armed forces, resulting in a substantial part of the population being forced to flee to other parts of Georgia, where they are still living as refugees.
