Shevardnadze’s successor urges Georgians to return to work
Georgia’s new leader has urged the thousands of protestors still thronging the streets of Tbilisi to return to work.
The mood in the country is still jubilant, following the resignation of president Eduard Shevardnadze yesterday.
Saturday saw protestors storm the parliament building in anger at the allegedly fraudulent results of the recent elections.
Security forces guarding the building stood aside to allow the protestors in, and the coup has remained bloodless so far.
Later that day, the army made it clear that it would not back Mr Shevardnadze, and his position was revealed as hopeless. The former Soviet foreign minister stood down on Sunday.
In her first televised address as president, Nino Burdzhanadze declared that the results of the November 2 elections would not stand, and that fresh elections would be held in 45 days.
However, she warned, ‘The country must [now] get back to its usual rhythm of life.’
The US welcomed the new government, but the Commonwealth of Independent States – the group of former Soviet republics, which includes Russia – condemned the coup, no doubt looking to their own fragile democracies and the terrible state of Chechnya.
