Page "Eduard Shevardnadze" Paragraph 30

Shevardnadze's ouster prompted mass celebrations with drinking and dancing in the streets by tens of thousands of Georgians crowding Tbilisi's Rustaveli Avenue and Freedom Square.

The protesters dubbed their actions a " Rose Revolution ", deliberately recalling the peaceful toppling of the Communist government in Czechoslovakia in the " Velvet Revolution " of 1989.

Observers noted similarities with the overthrow of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević in 2000, who was also forced to resign by mass protests.

The parallel with Yugoslavia was reinforced when it emerged that the Open Society Institute of George Soros had arranged contacts between the Georgian opposition and the Yugoslav Otpor ( Resistance ) movement, which had been instrumental in the toppling of Milošević.

Otpor activists reportedly advised the Georgian opposition on the methods that they had used to mobilize popular anger against Milošević.

According to the then editor-in-chief of The Georgian Messenger newspaper, Zaza Gachechiladze, " It's generally accepted public opinion here that Mr. Soros is the person who planned Shevardnadze's overthrow ".

IWPR reported that on 28 November, in an interview held with the press at his home, Shevardnadze " spoke with anger " about a plot by " unspecified Western figures " to bring him down.

He said that he did not believe that the US administration was involved.