Georgian president sacks his entire cabinet

Georgian President Eduard Shevarnadze has fired his entire Cabinet amid mass protests calling for the President himself to resign.

The protests follow a police raid on an independent television station this week that most people believe was designed to crack down on free speech.

Officials said the raid was conducted because the station had evaded taxes.

The director of the Rustavi 2 station refused to allow the police to search the premises and opposition leaders immediately began calling for the government’s resignation.

Security minister Vakhtang Kutateladze tendered his resignation yesterday but MPs said that was not enough.

They also called for the resignation of the Interior Minister and the prosecutor general, sparking claims that they were trying to engineer a state coup.

Shevarnadze said last night that if parliament forced the interior minister and prosecutor general to resign, he would consider himself guilty as well and step down.