Georgian Protesters, Journalists Allegedly Beaten By Police

TBILISI, Georgia — Georgian police clashed with opposition activists in the capital Monday, arresting dozens and beating demonstrators, along with several journalists.

The clash was the latest violence to hit Georgia, as the opposition presses its more than 2-month-old campaign to force President Mikhail Saakashvili from office.

An Associated Press photographer saw truncheon-armed masked officers beating demonstrators who had gathered near the police headquarters. Several activists were severely beaten, along with several TV journalists and camera crews who said they had their tapes and video cameras confiscated.

Deputy Interior Minister Eka Zguladze said the 39 protesters that were arrested had resisted police who tried to arrest several men accused of assaulting lawmakers in an earlier incident. They also were blocking a public street, she said.

She also apologized to the journalists who were beaten and whose equipment was seized, saying it was "our mistake."

Earlier Monday, scuffles erupted outside the parliament building when men started dismantling mock jail cells that had been set up by opposition groups. Demonstrators insisted the men were police officials, though police said they were just city residents fed up with the protests.

Opposition leader Nino Burdzhanadze blamed Saakashvili for the violence, accusing him of trying to spark a civil uprising. "It will end badly for you," she said in televised comments, addressing the president.

Saakashvili, meanwhile, appeared to criticize the police actions.

"When the authorities demand that someone defends and obeys the law, law enforcement agencies should also follow the same principle," he said in televised comments.

Opposition parties blame Saakashvili for the country's humiliating defeat in its war with Russia last year and accuse him of failing to deliver promised democratic reforms.

Georgia's location astride a key energy route has made it the focus of a growing rivalry between Russia and the West.

Comments

[tippydog11]

All about oil oil ... I ask still Georgians McCain?

[tippydog11]

another leader working behind closed doors....it is no the people of Nations who want wars but each their own leaders.....w e have ours also...Iran Israel N Korea ...they all feed their own people lies deception, bully etc to start wars...Do not use their own intellect for good or smart diplomacy why? They want wars? How can one or two leaders of countries put the whole world in danger?

[LMPE]

Shouldn't this guy have resigned in disgrace by now?

I can see Bob Hoskins playing him in a movie (Hoskins already played Mussolini and Noriega).

[Rog49Thomas]

Yep, we are all Georgians now - supporting another tinpot borderline psychotic "democrat".

[Doomestic]

I suppose the west only cares about police hitting protesters when they don't like their governments. For Sakishvili, it's all gooood.

[southwindow]

he didn't steal an election and the begin shooting protesters- nice try.

[Doomestic]

Yea, he only massacred 2000 Russians in Southern Ossetia. Nice try.

[Doomestic]

And no one has presented any hard evidence for the "stealing" of the Iranian elections. It is so far all circumstantial. "That's impossible, this is impossible". "Let's look at this poll, but ignore another one".