In quotes: Georgia's war of words

Mr Saakashvili has been outspoken in his criticism of the president

Since 2 November, the Georgian president and political opposition have been locked in a bitter row over the disputed results of the country's parliamentary elections.

Talks between President Eduard Shevardnadze and the main opposition leader, Mikhail Saakashvili, have broken down.

Mr Saakashvili is accusing the authorities of stealing his party's victory and has urged his supporters to continue street protests in Tbilisi.

The following is a selection of quotes from the exchanges between the Georgian president and opposition leaders carried on the Georgian media:

President Shevardnadze's corrupt bloc has suffered a catastrophic defeat in the 2 November parliamentary elections. The only thing we... have been demanding is that the president admit his bloc's defeat.

Mikhail Saakashvili, National Movement leader

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Some of them are demanding that the election results be annulled. I do not believe there are grounds for that. That would require documentary proof. I have no right to do that. That can be done by the Central Electoral Commission.

Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgian president

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The ground is sinking beneath the president's feet throughout Georgia. I warned him... wherever you go, you will not find a single Georgian who would applaud you, who would greet you, who would hug you and who would support you... [Regional Ajarian leader] Aslan Abashidze is the only man who remains with him, Aslan Abashidze and his protectors from the local Russian military base.

Mikhail Saakashvili

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No one has ever been escorted to a funeral as joyfully as we will put President Shevardnadze's regime to rest, and all those bandits will also be put to rest, not buried but put to rest in jail. So, they will have a rest and we will rest, as well... While these people are free, while they are sucking people's blood, Georgia will not be able to breath freely.

Mikhail Saakashvili

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A man who says that we will make these authorities rot, make them rot in jail, and who calls names - starting with the president and ending with the president's provincial representatives - and says other things which I cannot even repeat, this man thinks that he is scaring the whole of Georgia. I think this is a very dangerous phenomenon. This person, as such, is a dangerous phenomenon.

Eduard Shevardnadze

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We will not take up arms under any circumstances, but if there is a provocation on the government's part, these people will simply be unable to restrain themselves, they will break into the [State] Chancellery and bring Shevardnadze out from there just like [former Romanian President Nicolae] Ceausescu was brought out previously... Shevardnadze has been standing close to Ceausescu's fate for a very long time now... [The Shevardnadze family's] arrogance has been so excessive over these years that many people today want to settle scores with them using the most inhumane methods... This is why I advise them to obey first the people's will and then the prosecutor's office appointed by the legitimate authorities.

Givi Targamadze, National Movement

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So many things have been said - "Shevardnadze is Caeusescu, we must put Shevardnadze into grave, we must overthrow the government, we will do all this and so on and so forth". In the beginning he [Saakashvili] was conducting the meeting in a normal way but by the end, he fired up as he usually does.

Eduard Shevardnadze

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The authorities will not be able to break our will by such sweeteners. The authorities will not force you to go home from here by throwing you a couple of sweeteners and ceding a couple of constituencies. We are fighting for the elections in Georgia to be declared null and void. We are fighting for the recognition that the elections in Georgia were actually invalid.

Nino Burjanadze, parliament speaker and opposition leader

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I have already expressed my opinion several times about what is happening in Tbilisi now. It is a naked struggle for power. They may be in opposition, but what about their name-calling and personal insults?... I have to deal with physical abuse every day, or, rather, with psychological and verbal abuse. It is very difficult to tolerate.

Eduard Shevardnadze

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.