| Georgian demonstrators have “exhausted the resource of negotiations” with Shevardnadze The leader of the United National Movement, Mikheil Saakashvili, said at a rally on Rustaveli Avenue yesterday that “the resource for negotiations with Eduard Shevardnadze has been exhausted.” According to him, “there will be no more dialogue” because the president is only “playing for time” and, together with the leader of Adjara Aslan Abashidze, is “mobilizing supporters.”
Yesterday evening Aslan Abashidze flew to Moscow. The opposition suspects that President Shevardnadze secretly invited Abashidze to become his successor. Mikheil Saakashvili called on all of Georgia to support the opposition, hold a grand rally today at 16:00 and collect a million signatures for the resignation of the president.
This statement was made after the three opposition leaders represented by Mikheil Saakashvili, Nino Burjanadze and Zurab Zhvania ignored the president’s proposal to meet again on Thursday night with the participation of State Minister Avtandil Jorbenadze and CEC Chairman Nana Devdariani. According to Nino Burjanadze, there is no point in meeting until the authorities put forward “concrete proposals that could be called a compromise.”
The opposition calls “compromise” unconditional surrender, that is, the recognition by the pro-government bloc “For a New Georgia” together with the pro-Abashidze “Union of Democratic Revival” of defeat in the elections, the punishment of falsifiers and the appointment of a new vote. “There will be no bargaining over trifles - for two or three extra parliamentary mandates,” said Mikheil Saakashvili.
The speaker of the pro-government bloc, Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia, told a VN correspondent that in fact the problem is that there is no unity among the opposition leaders: Mikheil Saakashvili for recognizing the victory of the “nationalists”, Nino Burjanadze and Zurab Zhvania for new elections. “That’s why there are no negotiations with Shevardnadze,” she claims. According to her, “Saakashvili’s extreme radicalism is unacceptable and will ultimately destroy him.”
Tbilisi traders have so far benefited the most from the protests on Rustaveli Avenue. Grandma Margot sells 15 lari ($7) worth of sunflower seeds per day to demonstrators, sympathizers and onlookers. This is equal to a month's pension. Aunt Leah delivers khachapuri at the rally - 50 tetri each. “I am also from Guria, like our president. But this is what my fellow countryman has brought me to - I rent a basement with three children in Tbilisi for 50 lari. Now khachapuri is selling well. But the rallies won’t last forever.” Mikhail VIGNANSKY, Tbilisi |
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