Shevardnadze says he won't resign plus protestors. скачать в хорошем качестве

Shevardnadze says he won't resign plus protestors.

(1 Nov 2001) 1. Various of anti-Shevardnadze protests outside the Parliament 2. Various of Shevardnadze effigies 3. Eduard Shevardnadze entering the a hall 4. Press 5. SOUNDBITE (Georgian) Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgian President: "Yesterday I thought I shouldn't stay away from ongoing processes. But today I decided that the President should stay where he is. The President is needed I'm not so irresponsible that I just get up and leave my place." 6. Various of demonstrators burning Shevardnadze effigies STORYLINE: Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze fired his entire Cabinet on Thursday, as a security and media scandal erupted into a full-fledged political crisis in the former Soviet republic. Shevardnadze brushed off calls by thousands of protesters for him to step down as well, as the conflict threatened the fragile stability of this nation on Russia's southern border. Shevardnadze, who was Georgia's Communist leader, has been under pressure from many quarters, including the country's separatist region of Abkhazia, Russia and those who blame him for burgeoning corruption and poverty. The immediate cause of this week's political crisis was the government security service's attempted raid on the independent Rustavi 2 television station earlier this week, which prompted opposition calls for the president and his team to step down. Security agents tried to search the station's offices on suspicion of tax evasion, but many said the state was trying to silence critical media. Shevardnadze had said Wednesday that if parliament forced out his interior minister and his prosecutor general, he would consider himself "guilty as well" and step down. Both men stepped down on Thursday, but the president said he would stay in power. In his televised statement, Shevardnadze said he should continue to lead the country through these "radical changes," but insisted they would not have catastrophic consequences for Georgia, which has enjoyed a fragile stability since civil wars in the early 1990s. While critics say Shevardnadze has lost much of his authority in recent years, Georgia has no other politicians of his caliber. If he had decided to resign, it would likely send the impoverished country into political turmoil. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...