Garibashvili: People will never forgive UNM for November 7 crisis
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Georgia’s Prime Minister says November 7 is a date that people will never forget or forgive United National Movement for.
Before today’s Governmental meeting, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said November 7, 2007, was a "bloody date” in Georgia’s recent history.
"The Government of that time committed a heavy crime against its own country and people – [it] violently dispersed peaceful protesters, its own citizens, trampled their dignity and principles of a democratic state,” Garibashvili said.
"I want to remember the invasion on November 7 of independent television Imedi. This was [an action to] suppress free speech by violent means and an expression of the [violent] regime. Those and later development showed that our society, freedom-loving people, will never tolerate humiliation,” he said.
Seven years ago today a series of anti-government protests took place across Georgia and ended with protesters being dispersed by the police who used tear gas and water cannons. A total of 508 people were taken to hospital when riot police dispersed thousands of protesters in various parts of Tbilisi.
Demonstrations started on September 28, 2007. It peaked on November 2 when up to 100,000 people gathered in front of the Parliament building in Tbilisi. Protesters urged then-president Mikheil Saakashvili to step down. The protests were organised by a coalition involving major oppositional political parties.
At the time Saakashvili accused the Russian Secret Service of being involved in an attempted coup d’etat. He declared a nationwide state of emergency that lasted for 15 days.
Meanwhile earlier on November 7, 2007, riot police attacked Tbilisi-based Imedi TV while the news program was live on air. Police officers in masks and carrying assault rifles were seen sealing off the office. The broadcaster, which the government claimed were biased and pro-oppositional, was subsequently switched off.
The next day Saakashvili announced an early presidential election for January 5, 2008, as a compromise to the solution.
The then-government was criticized for using heavy-handed tactics against protesters.
November 2007 was evaluated as the worst political crisis in Georgia since the Rose Revolution in 2003.
Charges against two former officials of ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili’s government have been intensified.
"The United National Movement (UNM) party failed to fully renew itself after its 2012 defeat, which meant it could not meet society’s needs” – these were the words spoken by Zurab Japaridze, UNM former executive secretary who left the party on Monday with three other high-profile members.
November 7 is one of the hardest days of Georgia’s recent history, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili says.
On November 7, 2007 a series of anti-government protests took place across Georgia and ended with protesters being dispersed by police who used tear gas and water cannons. A total of 508 people were taken to hospital when riot police dispersed thousands of protesters.
On November 7, 2007 a series of anti-government protests took place across Georgia and ended with protesters being dispersed by police who used tear gas and water cannons.
November 2007 mass rallies against then-President Mikheil Saakashvili and his government, the brutal dispersal of peaceful protesters and an attack on Imedi TV are still relevant today, as former Georgian top officials have been charged for the incidents of 2007.