Georgia president refuses to resign, lauds democracy
A day after tens of thousands of people rallied to demand his resignation, President Mikheil Saakashvili declared yesterday that he would not give up power but said he would do nothing to interfere with continuing protests against his government.Saakashvili offered to begin discussions with opposition leaders to try to lower tensions and to agree on changes to the constitution and government. He emphasized that the peaceful nature of the rally on Thursday proved that Georgia was developing well as a democracy.
BBC reports that his main error, opposition parties say, was to lead the country into war with Russia last year and plunge the country into what they call a crisis.Up to 60,000 people attended Thursday's opposition rally in the capital. Hundreds remained in the city centre overnight. The BBC has discovered evidence that Georgia may have committed war crimes in its attack on its breakaway region of South Ossetia in August. Eyewitnesses have described how its tanks fired directly into an apartment block, and how civilians were shot at as they tried to escape the fighting. Research by the international investigative organization Human Rights Watch also points to indiscriminate use of force by the Georgian military, and the possible deliberate targeting of civilians.
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