11.05.09 Rally in front of the Parliament Premises

Nino Burjanadze’s Speech

“Welcome everybody! It is our obligation to stand firmly, to encourage each other, to garner even more people by our side and make the deafened Government understand that everybody who loves Georgia is on Rustaveli Avenue, and that this is  a rally of the entire Georgia.

I think I should read out to you a letter which I received couple of minutes ago.

“The Gori Tank Battalion which was fighting at the outskirt of Tskhinvali during the August events,  in the imagination of the President was exposed in the so called Mukhrovani Rebellion. While in reality, these solders refused to go against their own people. They were kept in unbearable conditions for three – four days as military prisoners. Later, part of them was dismissed from the army. I would like to urge you to follow up on this; please protect these people, their families, ruined health, offended dignity, and credits taken by them counting on their salaries; please protect their future. Big thanks to the “President” who trampled on the patriots of Georgia who looked into the eyes of death in August. The country is perishing. Protect Georgia!”

We promise the soldiers who refused to raise their hand upon their own people that we will protect them and free them from the unworthy Supreme Commander, the Supreme Commander who is offending each one of us.

You are aware that like many of you, I did not have any expectations of a positive outcome of the meeting with the President.

However, it is good that the meeting has taken place. Both within the country, as well as abroad, there were people who thought that through a dialogue it would be possible to start the process of resolving the crises in the country. This meeting has convinced us that this country has an inadequate President.

The man who cannot understand what is happening on Rustaveli Avenue, the man who sees the country through the monitors of the TV channels that he controls, the man who regrets for not having broken our face and heads many times and that he used force only on 6 May, the man who regrets his “mistake” of allowing setting up of tents and cells, and arrangement of corridors of shame, the man who is scared of our vigorous actions has threatened us that he will not allow us to blockade roads.

We have been refraining from radical actions, not because we were scared of the President, but because we were trying to use all options, we were protecting everything. Today, the President gave his stern warning. He called our rallies a circus, and probably sees us as performers in the circus; however, the entire world knows who is a circus performer staging performances and exhibiting lack of talent while playing his part.

Saakashvili’s misfortune has always been his inability to understand people.

Today the President tried to show mercy on us and said that he would stop further investigation and legal prosecution of all offenses against the detainees.  But who gave the President authority to suspend legal prosecution of the offenses? We are not scared of anything, because we have not committed any crime. Let them investigate everything very well and punish the people who attacked the protesters and were ruthlessly violent against them. They are the ones that need pardoning and not us.

We are not going to dissolve groups for protecting the citizens participating in the rally, protecting each of you. Furthermore, we will block the highways, go to the regions, call upon the people to stand by our side and make Saakashvili flee this country.

We know very well the price of peace and stability. However, we will not allow for Saakashvili to create a show of peace and stability in this country. Pretentious stability was there in Georgia in July, and early August when the President promised me that he would not start the war, while bombardment of Tskhinvali started on 7 August.  

We will inevitably have a true and not a fake democracy and stability in the country. We will have a strong economy, a real one and not factories painted on the banners.

We have to move to vigorous actions. We have to take all the steps to awaken this Government.

Saakashvili still has a chance to show the people that he prefers the country over his chair. Regrettably, I do not believe, but I would like to retain hope that the President will hear your words and will avert further deterioration of situation in the country following the crisis. 

Saakashvili and his entire team have become hostages of each other. But they should not forget that they are accountable to their own children, their own future, and that they should take adequate steps. Otherwise we will take specific and effective steps. We will walk all over Georgia. We will act vigorously and make the entire world stand up for our democracy. We will protect our country.

If we stand firmly and do not retreat even a step, we will have many supporters both within the country, as well as abroad. We should show the entire world that we want a better Georgia, that we will not tolerate the President’s impudence, impunity and violence. We will compel the President to resign; we will hold elections and prove the entire world that we deserve a democratic and stable country. We will achieve this goal through struggle, vigorous actions and standing by each other’s side.

There is no time for deliberations and hesitations. Let us all who have courage stand together to achieve our goals.”