Georgia:About 35,000 people protested in the Georgian capital yesterday against a presidential election they say leader Mikhail Saakashvili rigged.
Many demonstrators wore white neck scarves - a symbol adopted by the opposition after the January 5th election - and stamped their feet to keep warm in the snow-coated central square. "We will fight to the end," Levan Berdzenishvili, one of the opposition leaders, told the peaceful crowd.
Mr Saakashvili, a staunch US ally who came to power in a peaceful 2003 revolution, called the election in November after he ordered police to crush a five-day long anti-government protest.
The former Soviet state's central election commission awarded him more than 53 per cent of the vote, a narrow majority win which means he avoids a second-round runoff against his nearest opponent, Levan Gachechiladze, who polled almost 26 per cent.
Western monitors approved the vote, which they said was competitive and broadly fair despite violations, but the opposition disagreed and said it was fixed. "We need justice and need a second round," Mr Berdzenishvili told the protesters.
Opposition leaders have been trying to galvanise support since the election by holding a series of protests, but the rallies have attracted smaller turnouts than hoped for. Yesterday's fell short of the 100,000 predicted.
A mountainous country about the size of Ireland, Georgia sits at the centre of the Caucasus, a volatile region hosting a pipeline pumping oil from the Caspian Sea to Europe, and is the scene of a power struggle between the United States and Russia.
Mr Saakashvili has pursued an aggressively pro-western agenda since sweeping to power, forcing through liberal economic policies and aiming for both Nato and EU membership. But many accuse him of running a corrupt, elitist government.
- (Reuters)