An explosion has damaged the offices of a Georgian political party critical of the movement which swept President Eduard Shevardnadze from power. The blast, apparently resulting from a device thrown from a car overnight, caused no injury but shattered windows at the Labour Party’s HQ in Tbilisi. It came just days after the country’s bloodless "rose revolution".
| Still bloodless, just smelling a bit of cordite... |
A Labour spokesman suggested the new government had begun a campaign of violence against dissenters.
| Or partisans of the old government have begun a campaign of Dire Revenge™... |
Gela Danelia said that a car had pulled up outside the party HQ at 0530 on Saturday and the explosion came just after it moved off again. "I can tell you that Shevardnadze’s methods are maintained in a fight against the Labour Party," Mr Danelia told a Georgian TV station. "It seems that the revolution named a rose revolution is continuing but, sadly, with explosives and hand grenades rather than roses."
The Labour Party is opposed to the interim administration led by Nino Burjanadze which is steering Georgia towards a new presidential election on 4 January. Its leader, Shalva Natelashvili, said on Saturday that the party had been targeted because of its popularity and he dismissed the new administration as "Shevardnadze’s heirs". According to the official results of the Georgian parliamentary election on 2 November - since annulled by the Supreme Court after widespread allegations of vote-rigging - the Labour Party came in fourth place. |