Georgia: State of emergency to be lifted

TBILISI, Georgia - A national state of emergency that was imposed after a police crackdown on opposition protests will come to an end on Friday, said Georgia's parliamentary speaker, a close ally of the president.

"The state of emergency will be lifted on Nov. 16, and we will switch to a normal life," Parliament Speaker Nino Burdzhanadze said in a televised statement. The United States and other Western nations had pressured Georgia to resume normality.

President Mikhail Saakashvili introduced the 15-day nationwide state of emergency last week, after police violently dispersed opposition protests in the capital, Tbilisi. Independent newscasts and demonstrations were banned as a result.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza said Tuesday, after meeting the Georgian leadership and opposition in Tbilisi, that he was assured the state of emergency would be lifted Friday.

Western Europe and the U.S. consider Georgia's stability as strategically important. A major oil pipeline supplying the West crosses the country, which also is seen as a pocket of pro-Western sentiment adjacent to an increasingly assertive Russia.

Saakashvili announced the state of emergency Nov. 7, after riot troops used clubs and tear gas against opposition protesters in Tbilisi. The protests were sparked by the arrest of former Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili, after he alleged that the president was involved in corruption and a murder plot.

Saakashvili accused Russia of orchestrating the protests, and said the crackdown was necessary to prevent the country from sliding into chaos. Russian officials have denied claims of interference into Georgian affairs, and the Georgian opposition angrily rejected Saakashvili's claims of its Moscow links.

Okruashvili, formerly a Saakashvili ally, was later released on bail and left for Germany, but a Tbilisi court issued an order Thursday for his arrest.

The state of emergency drew sharp criticism from the West, and could harm the Georgian president's efforts to integrate the small Caucasus nation into the European Union and NATO.

The opposition complained the ban on independent broadcasts and official harassment of opposition leaders prevented it from campaigning. Georgian prosecutors opened criminal cases against several opposition leaders on charges of espionage and plotting to overthrow the government.