Georgia in turmoil, state of emergency declared

Bush urges 'peaceful' protests
The White House voiced concern over the day’s events.

“We urge that any protests be peaceful and that both sides refrain from violence,” said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council. “The government and opposition should engage in a constructive dialogue with each other. We will continue to monitor the situation.”

Opposition supporters have gathered outside parliament every day since Friday, when more than 50,000 rallied. The protesters initially called for changes in the dates of planned elections and in the electoral system. But after Saakashvili rejected their demands and accused their leaders of serving the Kremlin, they made his resignation their central aim.

Many of Saakashvili’s opponents support his aims, such as closer ties with the United States and Europe. A visit by President Bush in 2005 was a resounding vote of support for him.

While pressing closer Western ties, Saakashvili has sought to decrease Russia’s influence and to establish central government control over two separatist regions that have run their own affairs with Russian support since wars in the early 1990s.

Misha now 'a political corpse'?
Russia, which views most countries of the former Soviet Union as its sphere of influence, has watched Saakashvili’s turn to the West with alarm. Moscow moved to undermine Saakashvili by deepening ties with the separatist regions and imposing a trade and transportation blockade.

Saakashvili said Wednesday that the opposition leaders have been guided and funded by Russia, whose special services have stepped up their activities in Georgia.

“A country that has a lot of money and expertise has engaged a machine of lies and a mechanism of provocations,” he said.

Shortly after, the Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of three Russian diplomats.

Before Saakashvili’s statement, Georgian television stations aired what they said was a taped conversation between opposition leaders and Russian Embassy officials. The opposition said it was a fabrication.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry dismissed Saakashvili’s claims as an “irresponsible provocation” and said it was an attempt to distract attention from domestic problems.

Marina Kuparadze, 35, said she had supported Saakashvili — called by the diminutive of his first name, Misha — after he was swept into power by peaceful protests in late 2003.

“I voted for Misha back then,” she said. “But after what he did today, he has in fact become a political corpse.”

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