Source:
New York TimesThousands Rally Against Georgia’s Once Popular President
By C. J. CHIVERS
Published: November 3, 2007
TBILISI, Georgia, Nov. 2 — Tens of thousands of demonstrators converged on the capital of Georgia on Friday, demanding Parliamentary elections for early next year and venting dissatisfaction with the country’s once enormously popular government.
The rally, organized by a loose coalition of opposition parties, presented the strongest domestic political challenge thus far to President Mikheil Saakashvili, who rose to office after peaceful protests swept away the country’s post-Soviet old guard four years ago.
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Mr. Saakashvili, a lawyer educated at Columbia University, has steered his post-Soviet country sharply toward the West, seeking admission to NATO and the European Union, while moving against corruption at home, especially in the police.
He has often said he hoped to model his country’s development after the experience of the Eastern European countries that were once under the Kremlin’s yoke, and to bring democracy and free markets to the Caucasus, a region with a history of corrupt, brutal and autocratic governments.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/03/world/europe/03georgia.html?hp