(2 Nov 2007) SHOTLIST
1. Wide of opposition protest at Parliament building
2. Opposition protest at Parliament
3. Group of people holding red flags heading to the Parliament
4. Mid of other protestors with red, white and blue flags
5. Close up of protestor holding sign reading: (English): "Matthew J. Bryza, you misinform government USA, you are bought by mode Saakashvili. Your wedding in Istanbul and gifts have been money of Georgian people."
6. Protest rally
7. SOUNDBITE: (Georgian) Shalva Lejhava, rally participant:
"We demand from the government to fulfil what they have promised us. We do not demand anything that could harm this country. I was here during the "Rose Revolution" and I am here now, because everything was a lie and false."
8. Opposition rally
9. Various top shots police cars on city square
10. Top shot of policemen
11. Top shot of police cars
12. Police buses
13. Mid of policemen seated in bus
14. Wide of policemen near car
15. Police cars blocking vehicles
STORYLINE
Protestors have gathered at Tbilisi's main square ahead of a mass anti-government protest on Friday.
The Georgian opposition has planned to stage a mass rally in front of the Parliament and call for an early parliamentary election and changes to the election law.
The rally had been scheduled for10:00 GMT but people from the various regions of the country started to fill the square in front of the Parliament early on Friday morning.
Some protestors even arrived late on Thursday night and were prepared to stay the length of the time it took to get President Mikhail Saakashvili to call the early election.
"We demand from the government to fulfil what they have promised us. We do not demand anything that could harm this country. I was here during the "Rose Revolution" and I am here now, because everything was a lie and false," said Shalva Lejhava, participant of the protest rally.
Leaders of the national council of oppositional parties expected thousands of people from different regions of Georgia to take part in the rally.
Georgian authorities allowed the event saying a rally is a part of democracy.
But the opposition also said in several regions police blocked cars driving rally participants to Tbilisi.
Police presence could be seen around the square from early on as protestors began massing in front of the Parliament building.
On Thursday, opposition and government officials said that Georgia's former defence minister, whose sensational allegations against President Mikhail Saakashvili and subsequent arrest sparked the worst political crisis in years, had left the country.
The turmoil surrounding Irakli Okruashvili and rampant conspiracy theories have raised concern that Saakashvili, a stalwart U.S. Ally, and his
government were slipping away from democracy.
Georgy Khaindrava, a former government minister and now an opposition leader, said Okruashvili was forcibly taken to the airport and flown to Germany.
He said Okruashvili may have been taken out of the country to prevent him from taking part in the opposition rally.
Okruashvili, a hawkish, one-time Saakashvili supporter, was freed on multimillion-dollar bail earlier this month after he retracted allegations accusing Saakashvili of corruption and a murder plot. The accusations and arrest set off large protest rallies in the Georgian capital.
Okruashvili was Saakashvili's defence minister until he was effectively sacked late last year.
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