GEORGIAN PRESIDENT BACKS POLICE HANDLING OF ETHNIC ARMENIAN PROTESTERS

Imedi TV, Tbilisi, Georgia
Oct 6 2005

[Presenter] This is a different Georgia and we will not put up with
disturbances. That is how the Georgian president commented on recent
events in Akhalkalaki [reference to the dispersal by Georgian police
of a rally by mainly ethnic Armenian demonstrators]. According to
Mikheil Saakashvili, the police have always been up to the mark and
all they did in Akhalkalaki was keep the peace.

[Saakashvili, speaking to journalists on a visit to eastern Georgia]
There is no disturbance anywhere. We are just restoring law and order
as we always do where necessary. Our police have always been up to
the mark. In general, we are establishing the rule of law in these
districts, which were completely unruly in the past. Establishing the
rule of law is always associated, at some point, with certain attempts
to stir things up, but they will fail. This is a different Georgia,
with different agencies and different relations with local people,
so I do not expect serious problems from any quarter. Of course,
public order always needs to be protected. We will never let our
guard down and we will never retreat.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress