Georgian president booed by Tbilisi university students
TBILISI. May 11 (Interfax) - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili had to use the back door when entering and leaving the first building of Tbilisi State University, where he met with students and faculty on Friday, an Interfax correspondent has reported.
The meeting, which lasted for almost two hours, was conducted in the form of a protest organized at the main entrance to the university by members of the public including former political prisoners and students who were un able to register to meet with the president.
During the meeting with the president, some thirty students who were unhappy with his evaluation of the events taking place in the country, left the meeting and joined the protesters.
"Our protest drew inappropriate reactions from the president. Specifically, when he was asked a question about the scandalous prison videos he changed the subject back to Russian-Georgian relations," Sandro Tsagareli, a university student, told reporters.
"The president selected the questions that he wanted to answer. When we started asking him inconvenient questions, he called as Che Guevaras and asked us to leave, which we, naturally, did," student Tekla Dzhambulidze said.
Saakashvili was booed when he left the university.
According to earlier reports, the meeting between the Georgian president and students was closed to the press. Security was tightened around the university building.