 President Shevardnadze was ousted by the Georgian people |
Protesters in Georgia, angered by apparently fraudulent parliamentary elections and widespread poverty and corruption, took to the streets of Tbilisi and demanded the resignation of their leader.
It began as a beautiful, crisp autumn morning.
On my face I could feel a sharp chill in the breeze. There was a feeling of expectation in the air.
The opposition was rallying its forces to challenge President Eduard Shevardnadze.
His government had rigged parliamentary elections, and his opponents, livid, were determined not to let the new parliament meet.
I followed the lines of Georgians flooding into the city centre. Thousands were packing Tbilisi's main square.
Rallying the people
A cheer rippled through the crowd, then shouts and whistles as a truck carrying a plaster effigy of Mr Shevardnadze pushed its way through the ocean of people.
When it reached the front they set up the effigy and toppled it; smashing it to pieces.
 |  I think there will be bloodshed today  |
The crowd roared. High on a balcony a man, shouting into a microphone, whipped them up further.
I made my way up the back streets. A few hundred metres from the parliament a barricade of buses blocked the road.
Grim looking soldiers wielding truncheons and shields were packed across the street. They looked like a line of Roman legionnaires.
As we tried to film them one shoved us away.
An old woman rushed up wagging her finger, shouting. "Shame on you, they're journalists." She gave me a wink and a nod.
"I think there will be bloodshed today" she said.
In the wings
I climbed the stairs in Tbilisi's City Hall. There I found the man at the epicentre of this crisis; the opposition leader Mikhail Saakashvili.
Tall, 36-years-old, and smart in a dark blue suit, he was dialling on two mobile phones at once.
| MIKHAIL SAAKASHVILI Age 35, lawyer Studied in US and France Former head of Tbilisi council 2000: Appointed justice minister by Shevardnadze 2001: Quit government 2001: Formed United National Movement Pro-Western, radical reformer |
He was turning and striding, turning and striding with nervous energy.
He stopped before a television set showing pictures of the crowds and beamed with satisfaction.
He stared out of the window. "Look at this emotion," he said, gazing down at the crowds below.
"I've never seen anything like it. We will stop parliament from meeting."
He stepped on to the balcony. The crowd chanted his name. "Misha, Misha."
Then he ordered them to march on parliament.
I raced up an alleyway to get to the front of the crowd where I found dozens of men heaving the barricaded buses aside.
We funnelled through the gap and as we did, incredibly, the ranks of soldiers just parted.
We ran through, Georgians around me kissing and hugging the soldiers. And even more incredible, a man in a wheelchair raced along behind me.
| President Shevardnadze won't get away with this |
We paused at the government's next line of defence.
Georgia's interior minister in army fatigues was marshalling his troops. Spetsnaz men, special forces with sniper rifles, were on a tower above us.
Crowds descend
Up the road surged Mr Saakashvili. I ran alongside him.
"The elections were rigged. President Shevardnadze won't get away with this," he shouted at me.
 Georgians are hoping for a better future without Shevardnadze |
Then, furious, he rounded on the interior minister shoving him aside.
Another rank of soldiers stepped back. And on we rushed, people next to me waving roses in the air.
"This is our revolution of flowers," they cried.
At the entrance to parliament, I thought I was going to be crushed.
Angry hands ripped at the doors while more and more bodies pressed from behind.
The wood splintered and we were in - rushing through hallways - until we stopped at a new set of doors.
| The crowds ripped the doors from their hinges and we flooded the room |
On the other side of them was the parliament chamber itself. Mr Saakashvili was already inside.
He was face-to-face with President Shevardnadze shouting: "Resign, resign."
As the president was bundled away by his security men, the crowds ripped the doors from their hinges and we flooded the room.
Coup
Parliament was in the hands of the opposition. Jubilant men threw chairs and parliamentary papers in the air.
The revolution had happened.
Defiant Mr Shevardnadze did try to cling on. But in that crucial moment the army had deserted him.
Twenty-four hours later he accepted the inevitable and resigned.
So it all ended peacefully.
The old woman was wrong, there was no bloodshed; just a genuine people's revolt.
History had happened, right in front of me. And it was a privilege to be there.
From Our Own Correspondent is broadcast on Saturdays at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. It is also broadcast on World Service. Please check the programme schedules for transmission times.
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