TBILISI, Nov 25: Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili resigned on Sunday to launch his campaign in snap elections, as tens of thousands of opponents gathered outside parliament for the first demonstration since emergency rule was lifted earlier this month.

The resignation left parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze as interim president. Saakashvili, a pro-western lawyer who came to power four years ago in the pro-democracy Rose Revolution, is now free to fight for re-election in the Jan 5 poll.

In a show of force, some 40,000 opposition supporters gathered in their first protest since violent clashes with police on Nov 7 — unrest that prompted Saakasvhili to announce emergency rule and move forward presidential elections by almost a year.

The state of emergency was lifted on Nov 16 after the president came under strong criticism from western allies.Opposition leader Levan Berdzenishvili told the crowd that Saakashvili had caved in to pressure and would “never return to power again. There is no place for him in Georgia anymore.” Another prominent opposition figure, Giorgi Khaindrava, said the size of the crowd showed “it is impossible to break Georgian people.... On Jan 5 the people’s victory will be formally acknowledged.” The huge crowd later dispersed peacefully within the time limit agreed with police, a correspondent said.

The violent dispersal by police of an opposition protest on Nov 7 damaged Saakashvili’s standing in the West and undermined chances of bringing his tiny ex-Soviet republic into Western institutions such as the Nato military alliance.—AFP