Tensions flared on Saturday during the third day of an opposition street campaign in Georgia against Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, with the authorities and protesters trading blame for a fight at the protest venue.
Opposition leaders said a 50-strong mob had attacked the venue, tearing banners and ripping out computer cables at a stage set up outside parliament as dozens of protesters prepared to spend a third night on the street.
Police, however, said protesters had set on street cleaners who arrived to clear the site of litter.
Up to 5,000 people rallied on Saturday, a sharp drop from the previous two days when 60,000 and then 20,000 took to the streets to demand Saakashvili quit over his record on democracy and last year’s disastrous war with Russia.
Saakashvili has refused to resign and instead offered dialogue. Some opposition leaders said on Friday they had agreed, but the details of a possible meeting have not been set.
“That’s the government’s response to its own proposal for dialogue,” Salome Zurabishvili, one of the opposition leaders, told reporters after the clash.
“This is an insult to the Georgian people and an insult to any dialogue,” she said.
The Georgian Interior Ministry released a statement denying any involvement. It blamed protesters, who on Saturday again blocked three main roads in the capital.
“When the cleaning crew arrived, they were accosted and physically attacked by civilians who were participating in the demonstrations,” the statement said.
It said police were exercising a policy of “staying away” to avoid confrontation.
Analysts warn tensions risk boiling over into unrest. The West is watching closely for a possible repeat of a 2007 crackdown, when police firing teargas and rubber bullets dispersed the last peaceful demonstrations against Saakashvili.
The 41-year-old president has polarized opinion in the former Soviet republic since coming to power after the 2003 Rose Revolution.
Critics accuse him of monopolizing power and exerting pressure on the judiciary and media. Opposition has grown since Georgia’s five-day war with Russia last year, when Moscow crushed a Georgian assault on breakaway South Ossetia.
But diplomats question whether the alliance of more than a dozen opposition parties can maintain unity or muster enough people to force Saakashvili out.
Analysts say the president’s ruling United National Movement retains wide support and his position appears strong, despite the defection of some top allies and several cabinet reshuffles.
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
At first, Francis Ari Sture thought a human was trying to shove him down the steep Norwegian mountainside. Then he saw the golden eagle land. “We are staring at each other for, maybe, a whole minute,” Sture said on Monday. “I’m trying to think what’s in its mind.” The bird then attacked Sture five more times on Thursday last week, scratching and clawing the 31-year-old bicycle courier’s face and arms over 10 to 15 minutes as he sprinted down the mountain. The same eagle is believed to be responsible for attacks on three other people across a vast mountainous area of southern Norway
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
RSS