The World - News from Feb. 27, 1989

Thousands of protesters demanding independence for the southern Soviet republic of Georgia demonstrated in Tbilisi, the capital, a Georgian journalist said. The journalist, speaking by telephone from the city to the Reuters news agency in Moscow, said that up to 15,000 demonstrators tried to converge on a park over the weekend but were kept away by police, many in riot gear. He said about 200 protesters were briefly detained. The protesters marked the 68th anniversary of the establishment of Soviet power in Georgia by shouting, “Today is the day we lost Georgian independence!”