[Onthebarricades] Russia and Georgia pro-democracy protests Dec-Jan 07/08

[Andy]

*  GEORGIA:  Protest in Tblisi against Georgian president
*  GEORGIA:  Riot police attack protesters
*  GEORGIA:  Thousands protest re-election of president, allege fraud
*  RUSSIA:  Police detain Kasparov after opposition rally against Putin
*  INGUSHETIA:  Police attack anti-government protest
*  RUSSIA:  Small liberal protest in St Petersburg squelched by cops
*  RUSSIA:  Communist Party promises protests over election rigging
*  RUSSIA:  Young right-wing activist attacked after anti-Putin protest
*  RUSSIA:  Ex-Kremlin insiders join anti-Putin protest movement

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=29812&sectionid=351020606

Protest in Tbilisi against President
Sun, 04 Nov 2007 22:31:14

Protesters have urged the President to resign.
Around 10,000 opposition supporters have protested outside the Georgian 
parliament in the capital Tbilisi against President's policies.

It was the fourth consecutive day of protests on Sunday against the Georgian 
President Mikhail Saakashvili.

According to DPA, individual government critics again called on Saakashvili 
to resign.

Georgi Chaindrava a member of the opposition warned that the protests would 
spread throughout the country in the next days.

The mass protest outside parliament began Thursday evening and was the 
biggest since the Rose Revolution in 2003.

Demonstrators demand early parliamentary and presidential elections in 
spring - and not next autumn - and the release of imprisoned opposition 
activists.

RB/DT


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,309039,00.html

Riot Police Try to Quiet Government Protests in Georgia
Wednesday, November 07, 2007

01-Nov. 7: Riot police officers advance toward anti-government protesters 
down Tbilisi's main avenue.
TBILISI, Georgia  -  Georgian security forces fired tear gas and water 
cannons into a crowd of hundreds of anti-government protesters on Wednesday, 
driving them from a central street in front of parliament and beating 
several with truncheons.
The daily demonstrations in the capital over the past week are part of the 
worst political crisis that President Mikhail Saakashvili -- a staunch U.S. 
ally -- has faced since he was propelled to power in the 2003 Rose 
Revolution mass protests.
Helmeted riot police with shields advanced toward the crowd on Wednesday as 
demonstrators retreated down Tbilisi's main avenue in the face of the 
assault. Several hundred officers swept down the street in front of the 
building, where opponents of Saakashvili have protested since Friday.
Police fired tear gas from the beds of pickup trucks. Many wore gas masks, 
and live television broadcasts showed several people choking, including 
police. Scattered fistfights broke out between uniformed police and 
protesters.
Paramedics treated victims as ambulances stood nearby, and several civilians 
lay on the ground as people poured water into their eyes and a cloud of gas 
drifted through the streets. Cordons of police blocked off side streets.
The protests have drawn thousands of people to the parliament building to 
demand Saakashvili's resignation and call for changes in election schedules 
and legislation.
In the early morning, police forced dozens of demonstrators from the site 
where they had remained overnight, and detained two opposition leaders. But 
demonstrators streamed back a few hours later and the crowd grew to more 
than 1,000 people. Police wielded truncheons as they sought to keep 
protesters off the main street, and beat several people.
More than 50,000 people rallied at the start of the protests on Friday. The 
initial demand was for changes in the dates of planned elections and in the 
electoral system, but later the central demand became Saakashvili's 
resignation.
The protests are centered at the same site as the 2003 Rose Revolution 
demonstrations, which led to the resignation of longtime leader Eduard 
Shevardnadze and ushered Saakashvili into power.
Many of the pro-Western president's opponents support his aims, such as 
closer ties with the United States and Europe.
But opponents accuse Saakashvili of sidestepping the rule of law and sliding 
toward authoritarianism, creating a system marked by violations of property 
rights, a muzzled media and political arrests.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/11/08/georgian_riot_police_attack_students/3835/

Georgian riot police attack students

Published: Nov. 8, 2007 at 4:27 PM
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NEW YORK, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Masked riot police violently dispersed peaceful 
anti-government protesters Thursday in Batumi in western Georgia, Human 
Rights Watch said in New York.

The human rights group said its representatives interviewed eyewitnesses who 
said a few hundred students assembled at Batumi State University to protest 
police violence against equally peaceful demonstrators in Tbilisi Wednesday. 
Police attacked the student demonstrators without warning, the group's 
statement said, chasing and beating protesters as they tried to run away.

Some students were chased into classrooms, the statement said.

Riot police deployed in Tbilisi, the nation's capital, Thursday, the first 
day of a 15-day state of emergency proclaimed Wednesday by President Mikhail 
Saakashvili in response to earlier demonstrations and an alleged coup 
attempt, Human Rights Watch said.

All of the country's broadcast television stations have been closed except 
for the state-run public broadcasting, and the local cable company suspended 
BBC, CNN and other international news broadcasts.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7202627,00.html

Thousands Protest Georgia Vote

Sunday January 6, 2008 1:01 PM

By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI

Associated Press Writer

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - Thousands of people on Sunday protested early 
election results that indicated Mikhail Saakashvili would narrowly win a 
second term as Georgia's president despite criticism he'd backtracked on his 
commitment to democracy.

The influential election observer mission of the Organization for Security 
and Cooperation in Europe gave the election a mixed assessment, saying that 
it was generally in line with democratic commitments but revealed 
``significant challenges.'' It pointed especially to ``an inequitable 
campaign environment'' due to state activities overlapping Saakashvili's 
campaign.

Protesters, many of whom filled a square in the capital, charged the vote 
was rigged. Opposition leaders said the campaign was held under unfair 
conditions and claimed widespread violations during the vote.

With about 8 percent of precincts counted, Saakashvili had 55.23 percent of 
the vote, and his main challenger Levan Gachechiladze had 23.86 percent, 
according to the Central Elections Commission. An exit poll also indicated a 
slim majority for Saakashvili.

A candidate needs an absolute majority to win in the first round; if 
Saakashvili slips below 50 percent in the final results, a runoff will be 
held in two weeks.

The U.S.-educated Saakashvili was seeking a new mandate and fighting to 
preserve his democratic standing. He shocked his Western allies when he 
violently dispersed anti-government demonstrations in November and shut down 
an independent television station.

Gachechiladze, speaking on television early Sunday, claimed he had won in 
most precincts and that the vote count was being held under conditions of 
``terror.'' He called urged ``all of Georgia to come to make sure we don't 
lose our country.''

Some 5,000 people showed up for an opposition demonstration in the center of 
Tbilisi and their number was growing. However, Georgia was preparing to 
celebrate Orthodox Christmas Sunday night - one of the most important 
holidays here - and many could feel reluctant to cancel holiday plans for 
the sake of protests.

Saakashvili's supporters poured onto the streets late Saturday, tooting car 
horns and waving white-and-red national flags, celebrating victory based on 
exit poll results. While still waiting for official results, Saakashvili 
called for reconciliation in a speech to supporters at a celebratory 
concert.

``If the final results confirm that I have won in the first round, then I 
will assume the honor and responsibility to serve all of Georgia for the 
next five years,'' he said. ``I'm extending my hand to those who voted for 
me and to those who took part in the elections,'' he said.

Saakashvili, 40, led mass street protests that ousted a Communist-era 
veteran from power following fraudulent elections in late 2003. He won a 
January 2004 election with more than 96 percent of the vote and set out to 
transform the bankrupt country into a modern European state.

Now the Rose Revolution hero, who was much lauded in the West, is accused by 
his opponents at home of sidelining his critics and displaying an 
authoritarian bent.

A runoff vote could allow the opposition, now split among six candidates, to 
unite behind Gachechiladze, a businessman and lawmaker. Gachechiladze, 43, 
represents an opposition coalition that wants to do away with the 
presidency. If a parliamentary system is established, as the coalition 
wants, he would step down.

During his four years in office, Saakashvili has cracked down on organized 
crime and corruption, modernized the police force and the army, restored 
steady supplies of electricity and gas, and improved roads. The result has 
been annual economic growth of about 10 percent and a steady rise in foreign 
investment.

The economic success has not reached all Georgians, and after the November 
protests, Saakashvili made social welfare one of his top priorities.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jD0Spj8UqS7JnX0wBwHW_ZZiNJxgD8U57N080

Thousands Protest in Ex-Soviet Georgia

By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI - 2 days ago

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - Tens of thousands of Georgians protested the 
election victory of U.S.-allied President Mikhail Saakashvili on Sunday, 
claiming fraud and demanding a recount.

The massive demonstration raised fears of instability in the former Soviet 
republic, which sits on a pipeline carrying Caspian oil to Western markets 
and has been battleground for influence between Russia and the United 
States.

It was a dramatic turnaround for Saakashvili, who rose to power as the hero 
of the 2003 Rose Revolution protests against fraudulent elections. He has 
since faced accusations of authoritarian leanings, and his popularity has 
fallen.

Wearing the opposition's trademark white scarves, the protesters marched for 
several hours across downtown Tbilisi in freezing weather to demand a 
recount of the Jan. 5 election. Organizers said about 100,000 people turned 
out.

"Misha the Rose, you will fall soon!" protesters chanted, calling the 
president by his nickname.

Saakashvili won the election with 53 percent of the vote, while his main 
challenger, Levan Gachechiladze, had just under 26 percent, according to 
final official results released Sunday.

Gachechiladze and his supporters accused the government of rigging the vote 
and demanded that those responsible be prosecuted. They claimed Saakashvili 
fell far short of an outright majority and should face off against 
Gachechiladze in a runoff.

"Georgia doesn't have a legitimate president," Gachechiladze said at the 
demonstration. "If we stand together, we will win."

Opposition leaders also demanded regular access to state television, which 
has focused on covering Saakashvili and his allies.

Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe gave 
a mixed assessment of the election, calling it "triumphant step" for 
democracy in Georgia while pointing to an array of violations.

Demonstrators Sunday carried signs reading: "OSCE backs rigged elections" 
and "U.S.A. supporter of dictatorship."

Saakashvili, 40, has helped transform Georgia into a country with a growing 
economy and aspirations of joining the European Union and NATO, cultivating 
close ties with the U.S. and seeking to decrease Russia's influence.

But a brutal police crackdown on an opposition rally in Tbilisi on Nov. 7 
provoked widespread public anger and drew harsh criticism from Western 
governments.

Saakashvili called the early presidential vote to assuage tensions.

"The Nov. 7 police action against peaceful civilians was outrageous, and 
official fraud in the presidential vote was disgusting," said Irina 
Berishvili, 52, a literature expert at the protest march.

Zviad Dzidziguri, leader of the Conservative Party, said the opposition 
alliance would stage regular protests outside state television and other 
official buildings.

"We will seek to achieve our goals by exclusively peaceful methods," he said 
at the rally. "We will win, because we defend the truth."

http://www.kren.com/Global/story.asp?S=7403140

Riot police detain Kasparov after opposition rally in Moscow

Associated Press - November 24, 2007 2:43 PM ET
MOSCOW (AP) - Former chess champion Garry Kasparov (kas-PAHR'-ahf) is among 
dozens of demonstrators detained following a protest rally in Moscow.
Riot police clashed with scores of Kremlin opponents in the frigid streets 
today.
The rally comes in the middle of an election campaign that has seen some 
opposition political groups sidelined by new election rules. Opposition 
groups have also complained of official harassment.
After a series of speeches today, a group of demonstrators broke past police 
and marched through traffic toward the city's center, chanting and carrying 
burning red flares. Lines of police with shields, helmets and body armor 
dragged demonstrators into police buses.
An aide to Kasparov says police hustled Kasparov away as he spoke to 
reporters, at one point forcing him to the ground and beating him. He was 
later charged with organizing an unsanctioned protest march against 
President Vladimir Putin and of resisting arrest.

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/11/86ECD867-F731-40B1-BE54-E01BD3AB0DFF.html

Police Break Up Ingushetia Protest
November 24, 2007 -- Police in the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia 
have used force to break up an antigovernment protest.

Several hundred people gathered in the main city of Nazran today to protest 
against unexplained kidnappings, police violence, and poor economic 
conditions.
Unconfirmed Russian media reports said police fired shots in the air, while 
demonstrators threw stones at police.
The reports said 100 protesters were detained. Earlier today, a rights 
activist said masked armed men dragged him and three TV reporters out of 
their hotel, beat them, and drove them out of Nazran.
The four had traveled to the city to cover the antigovernment protest.
(AFP, Ekho Moskvy, ingushetia.ru )

http://www.times.spb.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=24028

Small Election Protest Squashed by Riot Police
By Sergey Chernov
Staff Writer

Reuters
Special forces policemen detain an election protestor in St. Petersburg on 
Monday.
A protest meeting against electoral violations during the campaign for the 
State Duma and Sunday's election was suppressed by police at around 4:30 
p.m. on Monday.
Eleven protestors were detained, including Andrei Dmitriyev, the leader of 
the local branch Eduard Limonov's banned National-Bolshevik Party (NBP), and 
Sergei Gulyayev, a former Yabloko deputy in St. Petersburg who now leads 
Narod movement.
Flagged as a day of mourning for political freedom ("Pominki po Svobode") 
the meeting held on Pionerskaya Ploshchad drew between 50 and 100 
protestors, said Gulyayev, who spoke by mobile phone from police precinct 
No. 38, where the detained protestors were being held Monday evening.
"Three hours have already passed, but we have not even been told what we are 
doing here at all," Gulyayev told The St. Petersburg Times.
"They [the police] are hastily cooking up protocols. There are some 
'witnesses,' who even weren't on the scene."
According to Gulyayev, the police began stopping protestors far from the 
location of the meeting.
"Several people from the Oborona [Defense] movement were detained in the 
metro," he said. "When they started to detain people [at the rally], people 
stepped aside and were watching what was happening from a distance.
Gulyayev said that the relevant City Hall committee authorized the rally.
"We sent an application on Thursday, signed by myself and Andrei Dmitriyev," 
he said.
"On Thursday evening I got a call from the Committee for Law, Public Order 
and Security and was told that 'we can't allow you to picket the election 
committee on St. Isaac's Square, but we can allow you to hold a meeting at 
the same time on the same day near TYuZ theater on Pionerskaya Ploshchad.' I 
agreed and said, 'No problem.' They asked me, 'Which way can we send [the 
permission] to you?' I said 'Send it by email or fax'."
According to Gulyayev, he received a letter with the offer, but when he and 
the other protestors arrived at the location, he was told by a senior police 
officer that it was an "unsanctioned event."
"He said 'We were called an hour ago by [Committee for Law, Public Order and 
Security chief] Nikolai Valeryevich Strumentov and said he did not permit 
it,'" Gulyayev said.
"I called Strumentov and he said 'You agreed to the location only today.' I 
noted that actually we spoke on Thursday, and so now there are no formal 
reasons to reject us. But he said, 'We won't let you hold this event in any 
case.'"
According to Gulyayev, OMON special forces riot police were ordered to start 
detaining people almost immediately.
"People kept arriving, some with flags, and there was a command to the OMON 
to detain everybody, and they did it in quite a hard way," he said.
"Now we have been here [in the police station] for over three hours without 
being charged, which is not legal, so we are here completely perplexed about 
what we are doing here."
The police's strong presence, complete with several heavy trucks, buses and 
fully-equipped riot policemen, was also seen on St. Isaac's Square, the 
location originally suggested by the protestors.
Calls to Police Precinct No. 38 for police reaction went unanswered on 
Monday evening.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/03/content_7187584.htm

Russia's Communist Party to protest election manipulations

www.chinaview.cn 2007-12-03 05:09:15  Print

     MOSCOW, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Communist Party leader Gennady 
Zyuganov said that his party will carry out nationwide protests against the 
alleged manipulations in Sunday's elections for State Duma, the lower house 
of parliament.
    "I wish to appeal to the government -- stop it, you are simply abusing 
the entire country," Interfax news agency quoted Zyuganov as saying at the 
Communist Party headquarters.
    He accused Russia's government of manipulating the elections, in which 
his party has won some 11 percent of votes according to preliminary results, 
more than the seven percent threshold for entering the State Duma.
    Opinion polls conducted by the Communist Party before the elections, 
however, indicated that the party will win at least 20 percent of votes, 
Zyuganov said.
    "It's clear already that the results for Siberia and other regions are 
being manipulated on the basis of schemes agreed in advance," he said.
    The Communist Party will take a week to process copies of voting reports 
and then appeal to the Central Election Commission (CEC) Court.
    The CEC said that the United Russia had got 63.6 percent of votes, the 
Communist Party, 11.3 percent, the Liberal Democrats, 9.6 percent, and Fair 
Russia 7.2 percent, following processing 30.4 percent of all ballots till 11 
p.m. (2000 GMT) Sunday.
    "The Communist Party will alone be the mainstay of democracy in the next 
Duma. We are the last remaining guarantor of freedom of speech and democracy 
in the country," Zyuganov was quoted as saying.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2008/01/09/016.html

Wednesday, January 9, 2008. Issue 3816. Page 3.
Activist Attacked After Protest

A 16-year-old opposition activist was attacked near her apartment building 
after attending an Other Russia rally to protest the State Duma elections, 
an official said Tuesday.

Two assailants were waiting for National Bolshevik activist Maria Koleda and 
asked for her name before they started to beat her, said Alexander Averin, 
spokesman for the banned National Bolshevik Party. The group is part of the 
Other Russia opposition coalition. Koleda suffered a concussion and broken 
finger, Averin said. "She filed a complaint with Moscow prosecutors Monday," 
he said.

Prosecutors were not available for comment Tuesday.

Koleda was among several opposition activists detained Dec. 24 after staging 
a protest at the Marriott Aurora Hotel, where new Duma deputies were 
staying. The activists handcuffed themselves to the hotel gates and demanded 
that the deputies resign.

A National Bolshevik activist, Yury Chervochkin, died in December after 
being beaten.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hCxZ5aqPY2OhLxftubp0c71L9SxQD8T3GDBG0

Friday, November 23, 2007
Ex-Kremlin Insiders Join Russian Protest
MOSCOW (AP) - Once they were pillars of Russia's political establishment, 
members of a pro-business party with a presence in parliament and influence 
in the halls of the Kremlin.

But now the Union of Right Forces, or SPS, teeters on the edge of political 
extinction, and its leaders plan to join protesters in the streets of Moscow 
and St. Petersburg this weekend to denounce President Vladimir Putin's rule.

Putin has described the demonstrators as extremists determined to weaken 
Russia. But by tightening election rules and restricting access to Russia's 
political arena, the Kremlin has given even its most cautious, conservative 
rivals little choice but to take their opposition to the streets.

Nikita Belykh, the party's national leader, last week accused the government 
of using "totalitarian and barbaric methods" to sabotage his group's 
campaign for the Dec. 2 parliamentary elections. He said candidates have 
been offered bribes - or even threatened - to try to push them off the 
party's ticket.

In a televised debate, Belykh said he regretted the SPS' support for Putin 
when he first ran for president eight years ago.

"Yes, we were wrong," he said. "Putin was our mistake."

Boris Nemtsov, another national SPS leader, previously showed little 
appetite for confronting Putin. In a recent campaign ad, though, he 
denounced the "cruelty, cynicism and indifference of those in power." And he 
called the platform of the main pro-Kremlin party, United Russia, "all 
lies."

Noted intellectuals such as former chess champion Garry Kasparov and the 
free-market economist Andrei Illarionov, once one of Putin's top advisers, 
months ago joined the opposition demonstrators. So did the measured Vladimir 
Ryzhkov, a member of parliament whose Republican Party was one of more than 
a half-dozen denied registration under the new election rules.

But the leaders of SPS criticized the protests, saying more could be 
accomplished by talking to the Kremlin than by confronting authorities. That 
has changed in recent months as the party's campaign for parliament has run 
into roadblocks across Russia. While SPS presents no real threat to United 
Russia, which is expected to win two-thirds of the vote, a strong showing by 
the liberal party could prevent a crushing victory in some regions - 
embarrassing local officials.

"The governors ... must show brilliant results for the president," said 
Dmitry Oreshkin, a political analyst who heads the Moscow-based Mercator 
Group. "How they do it is their problem."

One place where the local SPS party is under pressure is in Siberia's 
Krasnoyarsk region. Vladislav Korolyov, the local party chief, said police 
entered a printing plant this month and seized more than 1.5 million copies 
of the party's campaign newspaper.

The grounds? An article on inflation named a Moscow supermarket, which 
authorities claimed amounted to prohibited negative advertising. Police 
could not immediately be reached for comment.

Korolyov said employees of the state-owned Sberbank told several would-be 
contributors that the bank could not process their donations - as required 
by Russian law. In one case, he said, a clerk said she had been told by a 
superior not to deposit SPS contributions. Sberbank officials did not 
respond to requests for comment.

Meeting hall managers, sometimes citing pressure from authorities, have 
turned down SPS requests to rent space for rallies - and in some cases 
revoked signed contracts, Korolyov said.

"I consider this political censorship and a return to the police state," he 
said, sitting in his cramped office in the Krasnoyarsk regional legislature, 
off a square where a statue of Vladimir Lenin still broods.

SPS gets little media coverage here. The Moscow-based radio station Ekho 
Moskvy, one of the few media outlets where opposition voices are routinely 
heard, was taken off local airwaves earlier this year.

Meanwhile, United Russia's campaign in Krasnoyarsk is in full swing. 
Billboards trumpeting United Russia's slogan, "Putin's Plan is Russia's 
Victory," line the streets.

Selling cuts of pork at a Krasnoyarsk market, a resigned Natalia Ivanova 
said the election's outcome will be dictated by officials, not voters.

"We've talked to friends, neighbors, family, even customers," said Ivanova, 
43. "They don't vote for United Russia, but United Russia somehow wins."