MOSCOW: The president of Georgia called Thursday for a special presidential election on Jan. 5, saying he would test whether he had retained a mandate after a police crackdown and clashes with opposition demonstrators Wednesday ended with the government declaring a state of emergency.
The president, Mikheil Saakashvili, also said that a referendum would be held on the same day to determine the timing of parliamentary elections, which the opposition had demanded for next spring.
Saakashvili's surprise announcement marked an effort to alleviate the domestic unrest and international concern over the police action in Tbilisi, the country's capital, and the suspension of civil liberties that followed.
The president also said that the state of emergency would end soon, although he did not set a date.
More than 500 people were injured in the crackdown and clashes, none of them fatally, the government said. In the aftermath of the violence, public assembly was banned by Saakashvili's emergency order, and two opposition television stations were forced off the air, one by armed special forces officers.
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Newspapers and foreign news broadcasts were not available in the capital on Thursday, and the police filled the city's streets. Residents wondered whether their country, a young and fragile democracy in a turbulent corner of the former Soviet world, would slide back to authoritarian rule.
Appearing on national television at 7 p.m., three hours after calling the American ambassador in Tbilisi and notifying him of his plans for early elections, Saakashvili both defended the police action and expressed regret.
He said he had been forced to act against a plot organized by Russia to destabilize Georgia and its experiment in democracy, and insisted that he was protecting the country and not his own power.
"My chair is worth nothing to me; we care about countries, not chairs," he said. "Demand and you will receive. You demanded early elections. Here they are: early elections. Come and decide who you want to vote for."
"I do not want to be the president of a country that limits mass media and that declares emergency rule," he added. "I can only rule the country if I have a renewed mandate from the people."
He called on international organizations to send as many election observers as they wished to ensure that the campaign and the voting would be free, fair and clean.
Saakashvili's announcement effectively shaved nearly a year off his presidential term. It also marked a sharp shift from his emphatic refusal to change election dates or compromise with opposition demands.
The government clearly hoped the announcement would shift the opposition from a protest mode to a campaign mode, and demonstrate to voters and Georgia's international allies alike that Saakashvili, under intense pressure, had not chosen an autocratic path.
Although it was not clear that Saakashvili's concession would calm the anger among Georgia's citizens after the events of the previous day, the declaration of a special election was cheered by opposition leaders, who called it a victory and vindication of their protests.
"Saakashvili, I think, understood when he woke up that he basically fought against the whole country," Tina Khidasheli, a leader in the Republican Party, one of the many parties in the opposition movement, said by telephone. "I think that is what broke him finally - the reaction of the people."
There has not been an opposition politician in Georgia of Saakashvili's stature since he rose to power during peaceful protests in 2003. But the opposition said he had severely miscalculated with the crackdown, and that voters would reject him at the polls on Jan. 5.
"I believe he is done," Khidasheli said. "I believe he has no chances."
The shift in the government's position was made as Saakashvili and his government faced mounting international dismay.
Witnesses, diplomats, journalists and demonstrators on Wednesday described a day of frightening police action, as the riot police used tear gas, rubber bullets, batons and water cannon to chase demonstrators from the streets.
There were reports and video recordings of the police beating demonstrators who offered no resistance and of demonstrators in custody or prone on the ground.
The police also attacked some of the journalists on the streets, and seized or destroyed their equipment.
The United Nations, NATO and the European Union all expressed concern at the country's descent into official violence and the imposition of a state of emergency.
Thomas Hammarberg, the commissioner for human rights of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, decried the events.
"My reaction is that, obviously, according to the reports we have received, there was excessive use of violence by the police against the demonstrators," he said by telephone.
Hammarberg said he was also alarmed that Georgia's human rights ombudsman, Sozar Subari, was severely beaten by the police, even after he identified himself, and that independent news sources had been closed.
He said that international human rights observers remained uncertain how many people had been arrested and how they had been treated.
"The blockade on news is a problem there, because the facts did not come out," he said.
There were indications that the authorities themselves, while they said that a police action was justified, were disturbed by elements of the events.
Shota Utiashvili, a senior official in the Interior Ministry, said that the ministry planned to investigate allegations of police misconduct and brutality once the state of emergency was lifted.
"We will sit down and investigate these cases once the crisis is over," he said by telephone.
He added that officers who beat journalists and seized or damaged their equipment had acted illegally. "Every officer had clear instructions not to touch the journalists, which they did not all follow, and we will investigate," he said.
Utiashvili said that none of the opposition leaders had been arrested and held, but said that a few dozen demonstrators had been arrested and would be charged in administrative court with charges, including hooliganism, that carry fines or sentences of not more than 30 days in prison.
