Thousands Rally Against Georgian Republic Leader

TBILISI, Soviet Union — Thousands of protesters rallied against Georgia’s president Thursday, and opposition leaders charged that the republic is still governed by a dictatorship even though it is no longer Communist.

The protesters marched on Government House for a fourth straight day after Georgian Interior Ministry troops opened fire Monday to disperse anti-government demonstrators, wounding at least five people.

At Thursday’s rally, a broad front of opposition parties demanded the resignation of Georgia’s president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, and new legislative elections.

There were no clashes, however, and the flag-waving crowds were kept away from Government House by a barricade of buses and patrols of regular police.

Opposition leaders on Thursday accused Gamsakhurdia of continuing to maintain a socialist system under his personal control.

“Who needs another Saddam Hussein?” Irina Sarishvili of the National Democratic Party of Georgia asked.

Nodar Natadze, leader of the Popular Front, a pioneer opposition movement, said, “Gamsakhurdia does not understand what democracy is. There won’t be civil war, but maybe starvation, economic stagnation.”

Gamsakhurdia, a former dissident, was elected president in May by a landslide. Since then, criticism against him has risen sharply.