Mass protests in Georgia in 2007
The mass protests in Georgia in 2007 were a series of oppositional demonstrations in which around 50,000 people took part at times. They took place from November 2nd to 7th in the center of the Georgian capital Tbilisi . At the height of the protests, the government declared a state of emergency , put water cannons , rubber bullets , tear gas and acoustic weapons against the demonstrators. 509 people were injured.
The demonstration was triggered by the arrest of the former Minister of the Interior and Defense, Irakli Okruashvili , who had accused Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in a press conference and TV interviews of attempting to commit murder and to incite bodily harm to an opposition politician. Ten opposition parties in Georgia then formed the Alliance of the United National Council and called for a demonstration against the government at the end of September 2007.
From November 2nd to 7th, the demonstrations in front of the Georgian parliament building and on Tbilisi main road, Rustavelis Gamsiri , became a daily event. The demonstrators called for the president to resign, for the presidential elections to be brought forward and for a change in labor and social policy.
The demonstrations were initially peaceful. They became violent on November 7th after the government ordered the police to forcibly disband them. The police used rubber bullets, water cannons, tear gas and acoustic weapons against the demonstrators. 509 demonstrators were injured, including opposition politicians such as MP Levan Gatchechiladze (non-party) and Koba Dawitashvili ( Conservative Party of Georgia ). 21 protesters were arrested. The area around the Georgian parliament building has been cordoned off. The opposition television station Imedi-TV was stormed by police troops and switched off. The government accused Russia of attempting a coup and imposed a state of emergency until November 16.
On November 8, President Saakashvili agreed to hold early presidential elections on January 5, 2008 . The parliamentary elections could be brought forward from autumn 2008 to spring of the same year.
background
In November 2003, the Rose Revolution in Georgia led to the resignation of President Eduard Shevardnadze . Mikheil Saakashvili was elected president, who promised to modernize the country and raise the standard of living of the citizens. Politically, preparations for the country's accession to the European Union and NATO should be accelerated.
Although the president managed to triple Georgia's gross national product and the World Bank declared in 2006 that Georgia was one of the world's top reform countries, a significant proportion of the country's population still lives in poverty and it is one of the poorest countries in the CIS . Rising incomes are accompanied by enormous inflation . Radical economic reforms and the dismantling of the Georgian black market made thousands of people unemployed . In addition, the government persistently collected taxes and fees, which was unusual until then.
Although the president had declared war on corruption , he and his government were repeatedly suspected of being corrupt themselves. The opposition repeatedly accused the president of an authoritarian regime and his ministers of blending private interests and public offices. Law enforcement agencies overseen by the president regularly used laws to take down opposition leaders and cover up criminal acts by members of the government. The sudden death of the former Prime Minister Zurab Schwanias in Tbilisi and the exact circumstances of the murder of the bank official Sandro Girgwliani , for whom subordinate employees of the Ministry of the Interior were convicted, but which, however, was a previous verbal argument with senior officials of the Ministry, have not yet been clarified went.
The demonstrations were triggered by public statements made by former Interior and Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili on September 25, 2007, and his arrest a few days later. The former confidante of President Saakashvili had opposed his former comrade-in-arms and accused him of attempting the assassination of the Russian-Georgian businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili and of inciting serious bodily harm to a member of parliament of the Republican Party of Georgia . At the same time, he expressed doubts about the official version of the death of the former Prime Minister Schwania. The politician did not die at the place where his body was found, but at a different place.
procedure
Protests on September 28th
The protests began on September 28, 2007. Several thousand people took part. Major incidents were not reported. There were only minor scuffle between the demonstrators and the police when the demonstrators in front of the parliament building blocked the main thoroughfare Rustavelis Gamsiri in front of the parliament building.
The demonstration was organized by the United National Council , an alliance of ten opposition parties at the time, and was an immediate response to the allegations and the subsequent imprisonment of former Interior and Defense Minister Okruashvili. The protesters demanded his release, new elections and more honesty in politics.
Of the major opposition parties, only the novas and industrialists, members of the parliamentary right opposition , stayed away from the event, whose chairman Dawit Gamqrelidze criticized Georgia's repeated revolts and revolutions since 1991 had brought the country nothing.
Okruashvili's allegations
The former defense minister and Saakashvili confidante Irakli Okruashvili had accused Saakashvili on September 25, 2007 on the Georgian television station Imedi TV of having instructed him in July 2005 to liquidate the Georgian-Russian businessman Badri Patarkazishvili . Saakashvili said he should try to get rid of him like former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri , who was killed in an attack on his convoy of vehicles . He also knows that Saakashvili had instructed Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili to have the opposition MP Valery Gelashvili ( Republican Party of Georgia ) beaten. When he, as Interior Minister, arrested Saakashvili's uncle, the entrepreneur Temur Alasania, for bribery (alleged amount of bribe: 200,000 US dollars), he had to release him on the orders of the President. Okruashvili also claimed that the government had tried to cover up the background of the death of former Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Schwania in Tbilisi.
Okruashvili was arrested at his party office three days later. Georgia's attorney general charged him with fraud , money laundering , negligence in the service and abuse of authority.
Government response
Okruashvili's allegations and his arrest coincided with a visit by Saakashvili to the UN in New York , where he criticized Russia's involvement in separatist efforts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In his place, Giga Bokeria , an influential MP for the ruling United National Movement party , denied the allegations. They were completely unfounded. Apparently he is trying to establish a status of immunity and inviolability. President Saakashvili did not make a statement until the day after the demonstration in Tbilisi, on September 29th: “I want to tell you that what Okruashvili did is very difficult for me personally. I'm used to accusations being made against me and my family. But this person [Okruashvili] - unlike those who might actually believe what they say - knows very well that it is a lie. "
Protests on November 2nd
On November 2, 2007, tens of thousands of people demonstrated in front of the parliament building in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, demanding the resignation of President Saakashvili and early parliamentary elections. They accused the president of leading a corrupt, authoritarian regime and wanted to replace him democratically. Her slogan was: tschwen ar gweschinia ( Eng . We are not afraid ). As a sign of protest, the demonstrators wore white armbands and white headgear.
The demonstrations continued for the following days. On November 5, various politicians, including the non-party MP Levan Gatchetschiladze , went on hunger strike .
Protests on November 7th
Police use violence
On November 7, 2007, special police units used water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas to break up the demonstrations in front of the parliament building. Several hundred police officers from the special units with shields, truncheons and special rifles were deployed on Rustawelis Gamsiri after security police failed to push back the demonstrators and clear the road. The number of demonstrators quickly swelled to around 5,000 people. Units of black uniformed police were deployed after the crowd overwhelmed conventional police. According to Agence France Presse (AFP), the special forces beat and beat the demonstrators. In addition to the police, a group of plainclothes and masked men appeared to attack the demonstrators.
Several thousand demonstrators later gathered again in the Rike district, a few kilometers from the Parliament building, and television showed some of them throwing stones at the police. This demonstration was also broken up by the police using water cannons and tear gas. As the Georgian Ministry of Health announced, 508 people had to be treated in hospitals that day. 94 of them had to be hospitalized, including 24 police officers. 21 protesters were arrested during the clashes.
TV channels switched off
The opposition television channels Imedi TV and Kawkasia TV were stormed and shut down by the police. Shortly before, the co-owner of Imedi TV, Badri Patarkatsishvili , had broadcast on the station: "Nobody should doubt that I will use all my efforts, all my financial resources and my last cent to free Georgia from a fascist regime." Masked police officers with special weapons sealed the transmitter's building.
President imposes a state of emergency
Shortly thereafter, President Saakashvili imposed a state of emergency across the country for 15 days. The Georgian cable network withdrew BBC , CNN and other international news channels on November 8 . The Public Broadcasting of Georgia (SSM) was the only TV station that it was allowed to send messages.
Protests on November 8th
Aftershock in Batumi
On November 8, several hundred students gathered at Batumi State University to demonstrate against the police measures in Tbilisi the previous day. According to eyewitnesses interviewed by the human rights organization Human Rights Watch , the police attacked without warning, followed and beat protesters who tried to flee.
President gives in
On the same day, President Saakashvili announced that he would hold early presidential elections in Georgia. The opposition parties welcomed the declaration as a step out of the crisis and suspended their protest demonstrations in Tbilisi until further notice. Police and special forces were withdrawn from downtown Tbilisi on November 9th. The Georgian Orthodox Patriarch Ilya II offered, after talks with the leaders of the opposition parties and Parliament President Nino Burjanadze , to be available for mediation between the opposition and the government.
Individual evidence
- ^ Newsweek: Protesting the CEO of Georgia , Nov. 18, 2007
- ↑ Reuters: FACTBOX: Georgia's Saakashvili divides country , November 7, 2007
- ↑ The Georgian Times: Okruashvili Ups Ante on Former Allies ( memento of October 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), September 26, 2007
- ^ The Independant: Huge protests in Tbilisi demand election after corruption claims ( Memento of October 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), September 29, 2007
- ↑ Preme News: “New Rights” Not To Participate In Rally In Front Of Parliament ( page no longer available , search in web archives ), September 28, 2007
- ↑ Civil Georgia: Okruashvili Ups Ante on Former Allies 26 September, 2007
- ↑ Civil Georgia: Irakli Okruashvili's Speech at Presentation of his party 25 September, 2007.
- ^ Civil Georgia: ibid. , September 25, 2007
- ↑ Civil Georgia: Saakashvili Attacks Russia in UN Speech ( page no longer available , search in web archives ). September 26, 2007
- ^ Civil Georgia: Saakashvili Breaks Silence over Okruashvili , September 29, 2007
- ↑ BBC: Mass protest in Georgian capital , November 3, 2007.
- ↑ Reuters: Georgia's former defense minister surfaces in Germany , November 6, 2007
- ^ Civil Georgia: Riot Police Disperse Protesters Again , Nov. 7, 2007
- ^ Civil Georgia: 508 People Injured in Unrests - Ministry , Nov. 8, 2007
- ^ Civil Georgia: 21 People Arrested - Police , Nov. 8, 2007
- ^ CNN: Georgia: State of emergency called , Nov. 7, 2007
- ^ Civil Georgia: State of Emergency Declared in Tbilisi, as Two TV Stations Off Air , November 7, 2007
- ↑ BBC: Georgia declares emergency state , November 7, 2007
- ↑ Human Rights Watch: Georgia: Police Beat Peaceful Protesters for Second Day , Nov. 8, 2007
- ^ Civil Georgia: Emergency Rule in Georgia, News Coverage Curtailed , Nov. 8, 2007
- ↑ Human Rights Watch: ibid. , Nov. 8, 2007
- ↑ Voice of America: Saakashvili Proposes Georgian Presidential Elections in January ( November 9, 2007 memento in the Internet Archive ), November 8, 2007