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Georgia opposition seeks meeting with president
Sat May 9, 2009 10:46am EDT
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By Matt Robinson and Margarita Antidze
TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgia's opposition, backed by some 20,000 protesters, pushed on Saturday for direct talks with President Mikheil Saakashvili to try to end a month-long crisis in the former Soviet republic.
The political stand-off over Saakashvili's rule flared into violence this week, casting a shadow over the start of NATO military exercises that have drawn criticism from Russia coming nine months after a brief war with Georgia.
Pressed by the influential Orthodox Church after clashes between police and protesters injured 28, the opposition met with parliament speaker David Bakradze on Friday in the first formal contact since street protests began on April 9.
Several opposition leaders on Saturday demanded immediate talks with Saakashvili so they could tell him to quit over his record on democracy and last year's war, when Russia crushed a Georgian assault on breakaway South Ossetia.
Others urged patience, as signs of a rift emerged.
"In the course of the day we must receive a response - will the president meet with us or not?" former Saakashvili ally Nino Burjanadze, one of the protest leaders, told reporters after meeting EU South Caucasus envoy Peter Semneby.
"If we don't receive an answer today and the meeting is not held in one or two days, it means that he does not want dialogue, and I'm absolutely sure he does not."
Some 20,000 protesters rallied outside parliament, far more than usual, to mark one month since the campaign began.
Asked about possible EU mediation, Semneby said the EU had a "profound interest" in events in Georgia and was ready to help.
PROCESS "MAY TAKE TIME"
But he added: "The role we foresee for ourselves in this process is going to have to be determined by the Georgians themselves. This is about how Georgia should be governed."
On top of the protests, a brief, bloodless mutiny at a tank base outside Tbilisi on Tuesday has contributed to the biggest challenge to Saakashvili since he took power on the back of the 2003 "Rose Revolution" on a promise to consolidate democracy.
Analysts say the opposition most likely lacks the numbers to force Saakashvili to step down. But it has managed to maintain roadblocks with tents and improvised 'cells' in the streets to paralyze central Tbilisi and force the government to negotiate.
The government says it is offering talks on reforms to address opposition accusations that Saakashvili has monopolized power, undermined the judiciary and repressed free media.
This, not the president's resignation, should be the agenda for a meeting with Saakashvili, the government says. Continued...
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