Not here, there. Over protests.
Ever notice how the shitty MSM shows us protests overseas, while censoring the protests at home?
Something going on there, no, readers?
If it were here, it would be the water situation and Americans will simply accept what the fascista government tells them!
Pfffffttttt!
"State of emergency declared in Georgia; Police clash with demonstrators" by Tara Bahrampour/Washington Post November 8, 2007
TBILISI, Georgia - The pro-Western government of Georgia, a former Soviet republic, declared a state of emergency last night after police violently dispersed throngs of protesters and shut down private TV stations. The president accused opposition leaders of acting in concert with Russian intelligence agents.
The crackdown began yesterday morning when police in black masks and riot gear used tear gas, batons, rubber bullets, and water cannons against demonstrators who had occupied the street in front of the Parliament building. It was the first major confrontation since large antigovernment demonstrations began six days ago.
Opposition figures denied President Mikhail Saakashvili's contention that they were acting for Russia, which has been trying to reexert influence in countries that were part of the Soviet Union. The opposition has accused the president of using Soviet-style techniques to crush legitimate dissent.
On a platform of reform, his government forged close ties with the United States and Europe, contributed troops to the coalition in Iraq, and lobbied for membership in the NATO alliance and the European Union. President Bush has called Georgia a "beacon of democracy" in the region.
Addressing the country on television yesterday, the US-educated Saakashvili said: "We cannot let our country become the stage for dirty geopolitical escapades by other countries," an allusion to Russia. "Our democracy needs the firm hand of the authorities."
Georgia's relations with Russia have sunk to all-time lows in the past year. Russia has cut transportation links, deported Georgians, and banned certain imports; Georgia has deported Russian officials and accused Russian warplanes of overflying its territory and dropping a missile on its soil. Relations are tense in part because Georgia has two zones that have effectively seceded from central government authority and enjoy Russian support. Saakashvili has been campaigning to bring them back under government control.
Opponents say Saakashvili's government has become increasingly authoritarian in ways that echo Soviet days, allowing judicial abuse and political intimidation. They note that former defense minister Irakli Okruashvili, after accusing the president of corruption and a murder conspiracy, then went on television to recant his charges. Now abroad, he has reiterated them.
Yesterday, police and protesters engaged in extended battles in the streets; officers attacked some passersby who appeared to have no connection to the protest. The government said 508 people had been sent to hospitals and 412 had been released.
Tina Khidasheli, an opposition leader, said in an interview that she had been beaten and hit with a tear gas canister when police moved in. She blamed the violence in part on the United States' "unconditional support" for Georgia's ruling party, adding that she thought her country's leadership would have respected the rule of law more if US officials had insisted it be upheld.
Ms. Khidasheli: "For four years they did not question anything Saakashvili was doing. Beacon of democracy? The shining of democracy was in the streets today."
Sorry, lady. That's just typical U.S. government fart mist!
Georgian political scientist Giorgi Margvelashvili said that while Georgia has been a democracy up until now, he worries it will become "a police state where people will be put into prison as a matter of policy."
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called on the two sides to settle their differences peacefully."
Yeah, everyone is supposed to settle things peacefully -- except the U.S., right?
"Georgia Leader Declares Emergency Over Protest" by C. J. CHIVERS
MOSCOW, Nov. 7 — The president of Georgia declared a state of emergency Wednesday night after riot police officers used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon to clear thousands of demonstrators from the streets of Tbilisi, the capital. The order immediately closed two television stations and banned public assembly in the capital, a senior government official said by telephone.
The country’s principal opposition news outlet, Imedi television, went off the air as a special forces unit, its members armed and in dark masks, entered the station’s offices.
Cops in black masks, huh?
The emergency order, issued by President Mikheil Saakashvili, plunged the country into uncertainty in the face of opposition anger after a day of violent police sweeps and clashes in the capital. The government later issued a statement saying the emergency would last 15 days.
The declaration of a state of emergency followed a day of violence and public outrage that began in the morning when police officers tried to restore traffic flow on the city’s main boulevard, Rustaveli Avenue, which had been blocked by opposition demonstrators since Friday. An initial police effort was shoved back by the demonstrators, but officers returned forcefully with riot gear.
Witnesses and participants who fled the clouds of tear gas reported that the police had rushed through the streets and beaten demonstrators who were not swift enough to escape. Many protesters were bleeding. The police also scuffled with several journalists and confiscated or destroyed some of their equipment, witnesses and the country’s human rights ombudsman said.
I always wonder when the journalists are going to learn.
Why are you supporting power with your articles?
While the police sweeps cleared the streets at least temporarily, they underlined the intensity of the challenge to the government and to the reputation of Mr. Saakashvili. Having risen to power through peaceful protests in 2003, he has cast himself as a darling of Washington — providing troops to the American-led war in Iraq and pledging to send units to Afghanistan next year — and the most democratic leader in the Caucasus.
No wonder there hasn't been a peep from hypocritical Bush!
Opposition leaders labeled the police action a political crackdown and collective punishment, and called for Georgians to gather in renewed protests.
Kakha Kukava, an opposition member of Parliament, according to the Interfax news agency, hours before the emergency order was issued:
“The authorities have used weapons against the peaceful demonstrators, and therefore the authorities will get what they deserve from the people.”
The government defended its actions, saying the demonstrations were not entirely peaceful and the riot police were needed after protesters forced their way though police lines.
Gig Bokeria, a prominenet member of Parliament and one of Mr. Saakashvili's closest allies, accused opposition leaders of urging the protesters to rush the police:
“What happened this morning was very regrettable. They behaved very badly. They just openly called for violence.”
Notice how all governments are the same, readers, no matter what their name?
Mr. Saakashvili, appearing on national television early in the night, said the violence pained his heart. But he defended the police and the decision to deploy them, and called on the public to cease the protests. He blamed Russian intelligence services for coordinating elements of the demonstration, and said that three Russian diplomats would be expelled from the country:
“We cannot let our country become the stage for dirty geopolitical escapades by other countries. Our democracy needs a firm hand from the authorities.”
He made no clear concessions, but offered to enter talks with the opposition. A short while later he issued the emergency order, and Imedi and a second television station promptly went off the air. The pro-government Rustavi television continued its broadcasts.
Mr. Saakashvili’s government faced an enraged opposition and widespread unease about its actions.... After Mr. Saakashvili ignored the demonstrators for nearly three days, then publicly belittled their leaders on national television and said they were doing the bidding of the Kremlin, the demonstrators roundly demanded that he resign.
The Kremlin is highly unpopular in Georgia because of decades of Soviet occupation and its open support of separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two regions of Georgia that are out of the Georgian government’s control.
Many demonstrators have bristled at the government’s repeated efforts to discredit the opposition by casting it as a Russian proxy, and its refusal to either negotiate or openly acknowledge sources of popular discontent."
Would that America had such a motivated populace.
Too busy eating their war dead, I guess.
