Two killed in Georgia rally crackdown

Two people were killed and dozens injured Thursday when Georgian riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a five-day rally against President Mikheil Saakashvili's pro-Western rule. Police used rubber bullets and water cannon to beat back hundreds of people who had gathered in front of a grandstand from which Saakashvili later oversaw a showpiece military parade marking Georgia's independence from Russia. The government said 37 people had been hospitalised and 90 others placed in jail for two months facing trial on charges of trying to stage a coup. Saakashvili said the two people killed had been run over by a motorcade belonging to one of the opposition leaders and accused those who rose against him of working on behalf of the "occupation" forces of the Kremlin. "These provocations are being prepared from outside the country," Saakashvili told the nation in a television appearance. "We will be vigilant and we will always respond adequately to any provocation from our enemy and occupier," he said. Russia seized two Georgian republics at the end of a five-day war in August 2008 and continues to impose an economic blockade on its tiny Caucasus neighbour -- a country with few resources or other natural trading partners. But Saakashvili has used the time since the war to reaffirm his alliance with the United States and still enjoys broad public supported that has left opposition leaders splintered and fighting among themselves. The government -- sensitive to the condemnation that began trickling in from Europe on Thursday -- released an audiotape it said showed rally leader Nino Burjanadze admitting that her local support topped off at 15 percent. The opposition leader told AFP that the voice on the tape was hers but "taken out of context". But the European Commission still called Saakashvili's decision to use force against street protests for the second time in four years "very regrettable". "We understand a need to maintain law and order, but as we have already told the Georgian government we consider that needs to be done in a proportionate way," Commission spokeswoman Natasha Butler said in Brussels. "We reiterate that freedom of assembly is a democratic right and we consider that Georgia should uphold this democratic right," Butler said. Baton-wielding riot police used tear gas and a water cannon to disperse a similar but larger series of rallies in November 2007 that Saakashvili had also linked to Russia at the time. Local rights groups said the police action could have been justified if it resorted to less violence. "Even if the decision to disperse the demonstration had been legitimate, video footage disseminated through various media sources clearly shows the use of excessive force by police," Transparency International and Young Lawyers Association of Georgia said in a joint statement. Yet the US ambassador appeared more sympathetic of Saakashvili's position in the hours preceding the crackdown. "I'm concerned by indications that there are elements within those groups protesting who appear to be more interested in trying to force a violent confrontation than in peacefully protesting," US ambassador John Bass told AFP on Wednesday. There was no immediate official comment in Moscow. Saakashvili has remained the country's most powerful figure despite the disastrous 2008 war and many believe he could continue to dominate Georgian politics after his term ends in 2013.