* Arrests come in run-up to anti-Saakashvili rallies * Police produce video evidence * Opposition alleges smear campaign (Adds quote) By Niko Mchedlishvili and Matt Robinson TBILISI, March 23 (Reuters) - Police in Georgia arrested several opposition members on arms charges on Monday, in what their party leader said was a "campaign of terror" ahead of anti-government rallies next month. The opposition has stepped up pressure on President Mikheil Saakashvili since Georgia's disastrous defeat by Russia in a five-day war last August, and plans a series of protests beginning on April 9 to demand his resignation. The Interior Ministry said 10 people had been arrested on charges of purchasing automatic weapons, including some "not very high-ranking" members of the Democratic Movement-United Georgia party led by former Saakashvili ally Nino Burjanadze. Police showed journalists around 20 minutes of secretly filmed video of what it said were the suspects buying weapons, which included automatic rifles. Burjanadze said after the video was released that her party was ready to cooperate with the investigation, but that no court would accept such video as evidence. "We are familiar with such video evidence and how it is made up," she said. Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said police were not specifically linking the arrests to the planned protests. "We don't claim this to be a political conspiracy," he said. "The only thing we know is that there are people who have expressed interest in buying weapons and have bought weapons." "This (the police operation) is aimed at preventing any possible violence in the future, and to make sure the political processes don't get interrupted by violence that might come from a thousand different sources." CO-AUTHOR OF REVOLUTION Burjanadze said the detained included the party's regional head in the coastal region of Ajara, and her husband's driver. "The authorities have begun a campaign of terror in the country," Burjanadze said in the morning, before police confirmed the arrests. "This government has little time to rule, so stay calm and don't be provoked." Burjanadze is a prominent former ally of Saakashvili who co-authored the former Soviet state's 2003 "Rose Revolution" but then split with the pro-Western president in early 2008, criticising his record on democracy. Her defection came months after police used tear gas and water cannon to crush anti-government protests in Tbilisi in November 2007 and shut down an opposition television station in a crackdown that shocked Saakashvili's Western backers. The government at the time said the opposition was trying to stage a coup. Opponents accuse Saakashvili of falling short of promises made in 2003 to consolidate Georgian democracy. The pressure has increased since the August war, when Russia crushed a Georgian military assault on the breakaway South Ossetia region. Saakashvili has refused to step down, saying he was defending the country against Russian aggression. Georgian officials have in recent weeks warned Russia would try to overthrow the Georgian government from within, claims the opposition say are part of a smear campaign to discredit them. The head of the Georgian intelligence service, Gela Bezhuashvili, told parliament on Friday Moscow was planning "to remove the Georgian authorities through internal disorder and destabilisation". (Additional reporting Margarita Antidze; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Russian special forces stand near the bodies of gunmen killed during fighting in the Karabudakhkentsky region, some 30 km (19 miles) south of the regional capital Makhachkala, March 21, 2009. The ...
