Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

Wed 05 May 2005Bush hails democracy in Georgia as 'beacon of liberty'GEORGIA: President Bush hailed Georgia's new democracy as a "beacon of liberty" yesterday and in a swipe at Moscow said the sovereignty of the former Soviet republic must be respected.Tens of thousands of people jammed into Tbilisi's Freedom Square - once called Lenin Square - to cheer Mr Bush at the rallying point for the 2003 "Rose Revolution" that brought pro-Western president Mikhail Saakashvili to power.