Gamsakhurdia supporters stage protest at US embassy in Georgia
By Eka Mekhuzla
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 3, 2005 Tuesday 2:04 PM Eastern Time
TBILISI, May 3 — The widow of ex-Georgian president Zviad
Gamsakhurdia, Manana Archvadze-Gamsakhurdia, 55, and about one hundred
of her supporters held a rally outside the United States embassy
in Tbilisi on Tuesday, proclaiming: “Mr Bush, you don’t know what
happens in Georgia.”
Gamsakhurdia’s supporters stressed that George Bush who arrives on
a visit in Tbilisi “must learn the truth” about what happens and
happened in Georgia, specifically, that “the lawful president was
overthrown in the country in the early 1992.”
In the protesters’ opinion, George Bush, during his visit in Georgia
on May 9-10, should meet not only the present leaders of the republic
but also members of the opposition, among them Gamsakhurdia’s widow.
Gamsakhurdia left Georgia on January 6, 1992 after a fortnight of
armed clashes between his opponents and supporters. He was for ten
days in Armenia and then flew to Chechnya where he was staying till
September 1993 under the patronage of Dzhokhar Dudayev. Gamsakhurdia
returned to Georgia on September 24, 1993 and tried to regain power
in October-November 1993 with the assistance of armed units loyal to
him. Aster suffering a defeat, Gamsakhurdia was hiding in highland
villages in West Georgia and died on December 31, 1993.