Shevardnadze Feared Putting Down Protests
Odovaucer Ostrogoth
Associated Press

TBILISI, Georgia - As ten of thousands of Georgians shouted for him to resign the presidency, the country's generals were waiting for Eduard Shevardnadze to give an order to use force, the ousted leader said Wednesday.

But he decided not to call in the military, certain that any effort to quell the protests would end in a bloodbath.

"The eyes of these people showed they were not afraid of anything," Shevardnadze said in an interview three days after his resignation.

Sitting in the office of his residence on a hillside on the edge of Tbilisi, Shevardnadze looked at the portraits of him filling the room and reflected of the weeks of political tension that began with claims of fraud in the Nov. 2 parliamentary elections.

The tainted voting sparked protests led by National Movement head Mikhail Saakashvili, who tirelessly agitated for the elections to be annulled and for Shevardnadze to step down.

"I can't say anything bad about him," Shevardnadze said of Saakashvili. "He's quite an educated and talented intellectual."

Saakashvili announced Wednesday that he will run in the January elections for the presidency and Shevardnadze had some words of advice for him if he wins.

"I want to advise him to avoid chaos in the country. Chaos already happened in the country and he can change the situation," he said.




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- posted by Odovaucer @ 11:53 AM