Protesters call for a Chestnut Revolution

Among the banners fluttering above the crowds in Kiev's Independence Square yesterday were several depicting a red cross on a white background — the national flag of Georgia.

Exactly a year ago, tens of thousands of Georgians rose up to overthrow Eduard Shevardnadze, their president and former Soviet foreign minister, in a peaceful uprising christened the Rose Revolution.

As in Ukraine, the popular revolt was sparked by falsified poll results after Mr Shevardnadze's corrupt and ineffective party refused to recognise electoral defeat.

Mr Shevardnadze deployed riot police and brought in crowds of thugs from western Georgia. But after three weeks of protest, he had to capitulate when protesters overran parliament.

A year later, many Ukrainians, disenchanted after a decade under the scandal-ridden outgoing presidency of Leonid Kuchma, have drawn courage from the Georgian example.

Some protesters have called for a Chestnut Revolution — after Kiev's renowned chestnut trees — in emulation of the Rose Revolution and Velvet Revolution that forced out the Czech communists in 1989.

Young people have set up their own resistance organisation, Pora! (It's time!), modelled on the Georgian youth movement, Kmara, and Serbia's Otpor, which helped to overthrow Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.

Although the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, many Ukrainians feel they have gained little in the post-communist era and have been denied a place in the European fold they covet.

While central European and Baltic states have been welcomed into the European Union and Nato, Ukraine, Belarus and many other former Soviet republics still live under the shadow of an authoritarian Russia.

The Kremlin, seeking once again to expand its regional influence, has actively supported their corrupt and undemocratic regimes.

The fear for the Ukrainian old guard is that, despite massive vote-rigging, the sheer volume of protest will force it from power. Many of the ruling clique could then face disgrace or even jail.

Yesterday, Tamara Borblik, a 57-year-old protester, stood outside parliament, chanting for an end to the old guard.

She said: "In 1991, people weren't really ready for change. But now we've had enough. We don't want force and we don't want blood. We just want the president we chose. Until now, we were asleep, but finally we have awoken."