THOUSANDS OF SUPPORTERS OF OUSTED PRESIDENT ZVIAD GAMSAKHURDIA HOLD DEMONSTRATION AGAINST RULING MILITARY COUNCIL.

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About 5,000 supporters of Georgia's ousted president Zviad Gamsakhurdia protested in the former Soviet republic's capital on Sunday (January 12) against the Military Council now in power and demanded his return.
The crowd at Tbilisi's central railway station was swollen by busloads of demonstrators from western Georgia, where the fugitive president still has considerable support.
Georgia's new leaders, the Military Council and the provisional government it appointed from among anti-Gamsakhurdia politicians, promised not to fire on the crowd and militiamen kept a low profile.
Four people were killed during demonstrations earlier this month when gunmen shot at protesters.
Gamsakhurdia, elected in May with 87 per cent of the vote but later accused by opponents of being a dictator, fled Tbilisi for Armenia last Monday after a two-week battle with opposition forces in which 113 people were killed and 420 wounded.
After Sunday's rally the demonstrators joined the funeral procession of a fighter killed the day Gamsakhurdia was forced out.
The huge crowd paused outside the television station, now held by the anti-Gamsakhurdia Military Council, making it clear who they blamed for the bloodshed.

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