"HOPING FOR THE BEST IN ANTICIPATION OF THE WORST"

Tbilisi, 9 May. No-one even remembers about the victory in the Great Patriotic War Day, as they believe there is nothing to celebrate. Tbilisi is living its life, although Shota Rustaveli Avenue, the central street in the Georgian capital, and Freedom Square are blocked by improvised prison cells symbolising Georgia's transformation into a police state. According to the protesters who stay here day and night, there are about 400 such "cells". Each of them has two or four beds. "We will stay here until Misha (Mikhail Saakashvili) leaves," they say. The protesters, who gather here at 17.00 every day, have no other demands. By this time, according to the pickets, the leaders of the united Georgian opposition also arrive here - the leader of the United Georgian Democratic Movement, and former speaker of the Georgian parliament, Nino Burjanadze, the leader of the Alliance for Georgia, Irakli Alasania, the leader of the Georgia's Path Party, Salome Zourabichvili, the leaders of the National Forum, Kakha Shartava, Levan Gachechi-ladze and others.

As is known, it all began on 9 April - the act of civil disobedience was supposed to paralyze city life. The "cells" blocked the buildings of the State Chancellery and the Georgian parliament. The construction of the "ghetto of prison cells", as the pickets call it, was led by Levan Gachechiladze's brother - Georgian bard Giorgi Gachechi-ladze, who runs a political reality show from improvised "prison cell No 5" on a local TV station. He has promised not to leave as long as Mikhail Saakashvili is in power.

On 5 May, a coup attempt was foiled in Georgia, although the protesters still do not believe this. In their opinion, the authorities "fabricated everything". The purpose was to demonstrate a link between the opposition and retired servicemen who were allegedly planning to move troops towards Tbilisi, kill the interior minister, the mayor of Tbilisi, seize power and incorporate Georgia into the Russia-Belarus union. The pickets flatly deny all the authorities' remarks that they have any link with Russian intelligence services. "Russia has no authority over us, Russia has seized our territories," they say.

On the night of 6-7 May, the Georgian police fired rubber bullets at anti-government demonstrators in front of the Interior Ministry building. They had gone there to demand the release of some of their supporters who had been arrested earlier. The demonstrators smashed through the ministry fence and were met by a special force. As a result of clashes with the police, Giorgi Gachechi-ladze was injured. Nino Burjanadze said that the special forces were targeting her. However, the Georgian Interior Ministry issued an official report denying the opposition's claims that the police used banned weapons during the clashes, including rubber bullets, and targeted opposition leaders.

"These cells symbolize the fact that we are not going to give in," one of the protesters, Dato Kakhiladze, said in an interview with R+ outside the parliament building. For 27-year-old Dato, Rustaveli Avenue has long become home, as he comes here every evening. He is unemployed and has two children. He does not believe in a future for Georgia under Saakashvili "because Misho is to blame for everything and because he is a bandit who kills innocent people". Dato is sure that most of Georgia's population shares this opinion today. "We are called a small opposition group, but it is not true. Judge for yourself - if there were few of us, would we be able to gather in our 'cells' here every day and demand the resignation of a president who has reduced the country to poverty and war. Tens of thousands of people gather here every day."

- What happens next? Do you have an alternative to President Saakashvili?

- We do not want presidents. The country will be run by a person elected by the people. The people themselves will decide. No-one knows what this will be and it is not a problem for us. We know that Saakashvili has done nothing good.

- What has he done wrong?

- He started a war. Why did he do that? Everything has got much worse. People are losing their jobs, prices are going up, factories are not working and we did not gain anything from Saakashvili's provocative war, but we lost everything. His gang is killing innocent people and there are no investigations. We have lost our lands. What can be worse than that?

Other protesters around us agreed with him. They look uneasy and constantly expect another clash with the police. "Soon all Georgians will unite. Everyone wants Saakashvili and his gang to resign." Another protester Liko Barkladze said that the Georgian police were engaged in "guerrilla warfare" against the protesters: "When there are many of us here on the square, the police do not get in our way. But when some of us go home at night, the police assault us separately. They want to provoke the people, as was the case on that day in front of the Interior Ministry." Photographs of young people have been put up near the parliament building; the protesters say they were killed by "Saakashvili's brigands" in peace time. The pickets said that one of the young people was killed by order of the interior minister's wife, just because he failed to please her. "Other cases were not investigated. And the policemen who killed that guy were pardoned later. Why? Are there no laws for Saakashvili and his circle? This is what we are fighting. The law should be the same for everyone!" said 55-year-old Liko Bark-ladze, who lost his son during the August carnage. "We will not retreat and we will stand to the very end," he said. Shota Rustaveli Avenue is drowning in litter, just like the rest of Tbilisi. The Georgian parliament has been inactive for more than 15 days, while sessions of the departments are held in a secret location. The presidential administration is not working. The protesters said that the State Chancellery has also been paralyzed as well.

However, not everyone in Tbilisi welcomes the act of disobedience. "Look what is going on in the city," said our guide Teona Gvishiani, who was quite well grounded in politics. This is no surprise because, nowadays, the Georgian capital is literally saturated in political debate and sentiment which Tbilisi residents say is "hoping for the best in anticipation of the worst". The city is in decline, says Teona. "Last year many things began to change. The state adopted programmes to develop the city. Without exaggeration, the city was cleaned thoroughly. They started to restore classical buildings and old Tbilisi, and the capital was visited by tourists. After the August events, everything collapsed, and the development programmes were frozen due to a lack of funding. The situation deteriorated after the protesters blocked the central streets of the city in April," our Tbilisi guide said regretfully.

Teona could be called a representative of the Georgian intelligentsia, who has painful memories of all the upheavals which have taken place in her native Tbilisi. "What is going on in Shota Rustaveli Square today is anti-constitutional. I think that the people who have gathered there have nothing else to do. Tbilisi has turned into the city of the 1990s, which is terrible for me. It is a crime to hold protests in a city which is 40 km from a war zone. Yes, I do not rule out Mikheil Saakashvili's resignation, but all these actions should be legitimate. People with common sense do not want to return to the 1990s, you cannot think about rallies all the time. But we have been confronted with them for the last six years. To be honest, in Georgia everything is not as bad as the opposition claims. There is no corruption in Georgia and you can achieve justice in the courts. Is that not enough? This alone justifies Mikheil Saakashvili running the country until the end of his presidential term," said Gvishiani.

Teona said that she often meets representatives of the Azerbaijani and Armenian diasporas in Tbilisi and can say that the Azerbaijanis have taken a neutral position on events in Tbilisi, while the Armenian diaspora supports the Georgian opposition.

- Is there hate for everything Russian after the August events in Georgia?

- "No. I can say that with complete confidence. There is no hate. Georgian society has always been tolerant. There are many denominations here. We are linked to the Russians by a long history. I would say that you did not formulate the question correctly - there is hate, not for Russians, but for Russia. Georgia does not accept Russian methods of foreign policy. There is a war on in Georgia, and the Georgians are waging this war against the Russian state. For this reason, I think it is a crime against the nation to hold protests in the capital. What is more, it is evident that the Georgian opposition has no clear-cut plan for the development of the country," Gvishiani said.

In response to remarks by those who oppose protests which destabilize the situation in the country and create insanitary conditions in the city - and there are quite a few of them in Tbilisi, the opposition has its own answer: the Tbilisi mayor's office has clearly become a politicized service. This is proved by its attempts to drown the protest sites and adjacent areas in litter. The aim is to set the local population, worried about insanitary conditions, against the protesters.

On 10 May, at 17.00, the information rally of the opposition resumed. It is called an information rally because every opposition leader who comes to Shota Rustaveli Avenue every day provides the protesters with information about further actions. On this day, one of the opposition leaders, Kakha Kukava, said that the Georgian opposition has no intention of ending protests at Rustaveli Avenue on 26 May, Georgia's Independence Day, when the authorities are planning to stage a military parade: "The protests at Rustaveli Avenue will not end until Saakashvili resigns. If this does not happen by 26 May, we will celebrate Georgia's Independence Day in front of the parliament and will still demand Saakashvili's resignation at the rally." On 11 May, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and radical opposition leaders held a meeting at the Interior Ministry, which the head of state described as "the beginning of a dialogue", saying that "the country's democratic course is based on institutional decisions". The opposition describe the meeting with the country's president as unproductive, saying that the peaceful action of disobedience will continue until Saakashvili resigns.

Today, many members of the Georgian public think that the authorities should give up their plan to stage a military parade on Georgia's Independence Day. Public figures urge the authorities to hand over the money allocated for the parade to the families of Georgian soldiers killed in August. "Less than a year has passed since a tragic war took place in the country. It is not the right time for festivities. The country's territory is occupied and, besides, expenditure on a military parade is unnecessary in the harsh economic and social situation the state is in," said Teona Gvishiani.

On 10 May, the R+ correspondent witnessed by chance a meeting between representatives of the parliamentary opposition and top officials of the US embassy in Georgia at the Hotel Ambassador in old Tbilisi. Judging by the fact that Georgian journalists were not invited to this meeting, held behind closed doors, it is clear that the issues discussed at the meeting would not be made public. We learned later that the American diplomats spoke to the chairman of the Georgian parliament, David Bakradze, who was accompanied by the chairman of the Georgian anti-crisis centre, Gia Tortladze.

Baya Romelashvili, head of the monitoring and investigation department in the administration of the Georgian people's defender (Om-budsman), thinks it inexpedient to assess events in Georgia as a representative of the ombudsman, since her personal attitude towards the opposition protests may not coincide with the position of the Georgian people's defender. "As a member of the Republican Party of Georgia, I can say: 'Misha, Resign!'. He should resign for what he did in front of the Interior Ministry on 7 May," Ro-melashvili said.

- Did you not vote for Saakashvili five years ago?

- I did. But he has made a lot of mistakes in these five years. As a consequence, the country is in deep economic and political crisis. We are free people and have the right to demand the resignation of a president who does not suit us today. We do not want the country to be run by an irresponsible person who has created an atmosphere of impunity and arbitrariness.

His circle is also using these opportunities now. The law should be the same for everyone. Yes, we were against Shevardnadze, under whom corruption flourished, but now we are against Saakashvili, under whom clannish arbitrariness is flourishing. The Georgian people did not suppose at all that after becoming president, Saakashvili would carry out constitutional reforms to strengthen and expand his authority as head of state.

Baya Romelashvili stressed that the opposition has closed ranks around one idea today - to abolish presidential rule and to proclaim a parliamentary republic. "We do not need a tsar and we do not need a one-man government. Power inevitably degrades a man as a personality, and this has happened to Mikheil Saakashvili," Romelashvili stressed. Regarding the meeting between the speaker of parliament, David Bakradze, and the American diplomats, Baya Ro-melashvili said the following:

"It is no surprise that, as representatives of the parliamentary moderates, i.e. the 'pocket' opposition, Bakradze and Tortladze are meeting US envoys, who usually engage in such contacts as a smokescreen to show that they are taking an active part in our political developments. The parliamentary opposition consists of those who remain members of the Georgian parliament after the well-known events of November 2007. As a radical opposition, and with other opposition political movements which demand the president's resignation, we refused to go to the parliament in protest. Thus Bakradze and Tortladze's meeting with representatives of the US embassy cannot be called anything other than a trick by the authorities," asserts Romelashvili.

On the whole, the Hotel Ambas-sador could be seen as the centre of veiled political and "celebrity" life in Tbilisi. It is no surprise that in one day, you can see in the foyer representatives of the moderate and radical opposition at a photo session for Georgian models in wedding dresses, NATO soldiers participating in exercises in Georgia and former Georgian ministers. The R+ correspondent met the deputy speaker of the Georgian parliament and member of the ruling party, Rusudan Kervalishvili. She stressed that, since the very outset of the April crisis, Mikheil Saakashvili has expressed his readiness to engage in dialogue with the radical opposition.

"What is going on in Georgia at the moment can be called unpleasant events. In my opinion, it is not a classical political crisis. It is a comprehensive crisis and this situation is greatly influenced by countries which have strained relations with Georgia. In this case, there is some overlap of two problems. On the one hand, Georgia has territorial difficulties and is at war and, on the other, opposition demands are whipping up tensions in an already difficult situation. However, in this situation, we can by no means claim that the Georgian opposition is run by foreign forces. The Georgian opposition has its own political agenda of protest. It is necessary to get out of this situation very carefully because the stability of the whole region depends on political stability in Georgia. We have no right to oppose political dialogue between parties. We have no other choice or alternative. Dialogue is the most important thing. There are no issues that cannot be solved. It is a matter of time. It is necessary to have patience and to give way to each other in order to attain the end goal - the unity of Georgia and a good economic situation. As for the armed conflict, in reality it does not exist. Only 11 per cent of Ossetians live in South Ossetia, while the rest live in Georgia. They also need peace, like all Georgians," said Kervalishvili.

- What legislative initiatives is the Georgian parliament going to discuss concerning the political situation in the country?

- Yes, there will be initiatives. The most important thing is to expand the rights of parliament to the maximum extent. We can also discuss a reduction in the rights of the president, it is necessary to reform the judiciary and continue the reforms in which Georgia has distinguished itself in the four years of Saakashvili's presidency. But reforms are always painful. For this reason, the main reform should be dialogue. Parliament should play a huge role here.

- If the opposition continues to insist on the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili, what will parliament do?

- The opposition expresses the opinion of only a certain section of the people. It is not all of Georgia. This is not an ultimatum issued by the whole state. We are at war at the moment. Tanks are deployed 40 km from Tbilisi. In such a situation, i.e. in a state of war, the country's leadership is not usually replaced.

- Do you think Georgia is a democratic country?

- Yes, I do. Though there are individual undemocratic actions which are certainly taking place in the country. Every person is a world, which is why not a single undemocratic action should be ignored. On the whole, I think that the country is absolutely transparent. Not everything that is happening in the state is known to Georgians, but it is known to other countries, foreign representations and international organizations. When everything is open, there are fewer mistakes.

- What is the economic situation like in Georgia today?

- Protests in the country create tension in politics and in the economy. The economic situation is gradually becoming more complicated. Invest-ments are slowing down, the tourist season is expected to fail again and the budget is not being implemented. Investors are monitoring the development of events and are in no hurry to make decisions. The most important thing is that the population is already in fear of economic depression. The pickets have influenced the demand for consumer goods. The demand for essential goods has increased in Tbilisi's markets and shops. The protests will presumably have an influence on inflation in the country, and it is expected to grow. The events in the country will definitely have a negative impact on the construction business.

In turn, businessmen realize that these events in Georgia are unlikely to end soon. A representative of the construction business interviewed by R+ thinks that the protests will have no impact on the country's economy. "They will have a positive rather than negative influence on prospects for the country's economic development, as this action will prove that there is real democracy in the country. For its part, democracy creates the best grounds for business development. Georgian business has recently had to stand such tests once every few years or even once a year. Although it must be said that business has developed a sort of immunity," businessman Abeli Dadiani told us. However, there can be no talk of global production in Georgia, he said.

Today, no-one can accurately predict how the political crisis in Georgia will end, as it is exacerbated by the unstable economic situation and the war which Georgians are sure will definitely resume. But Tbilisi residents are living in hope that peace and prosperity will reign in their country one day. Georgians do not propose their first toast "To God and to the Homeland" in vain. These were our two days in Tbilisi - "hoping for the best in anticipation of the worst".