Saakashvili’s goons turf out Western diners

If the President of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili, wants to keep his friends in the West, he has a funny way of going about it. There was a bizarre scene on Wednesday night at the Kopala Restaurant in central Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, when his security guards turned up and ordered Western diplomats and journalists to quit the joint immediately, even though they were halfway through their meals. The reason? Saakashvili was about to arrive for an interview with the BBC.

Asked for an explanation, a member of the presidential press service told the diners - who, ironically, included a BBC correspondent - that surely they understood that if Gordon Brown went into a restaurant everyone would be expected to leave immediately. No one said that actually this isn’t the way it works at Granita (the last time anyone can remember the PM visiting a London restaurant) but they did ask that they be allowed to finish their meals and promised to be quiet. But this wasn't good enough for Saakashvili's goons.

Shaun Walker, who was enjoying a first decent meal after reporting from Gori and Tskhinvali for The First Post earlier this week, picks up the story: "An aggressive man appeared, who said he was secret service, and started jabbing his fingers into the midriff of the Belgian consul, demanding that he abandon his bottle of red and get out now, as he was a security threat. As a parting shot, the restaurant owner weighed in, accusing us of having no respect for the president and drinking when we should be working."