WORLD : Tens of Thousands of Soviet Georgians Mark Slaying of 19

Tens of thousands of Soviet Georgians rallied in Tbilisi today on the anniversary of the slaying of 19 pro-independence protesters by Soviet forces, and burned the region’s military chief in effigy.

There was a partial re-enactment of last year’s 4 a.m. assault, when troops armed with shotguns, shovels and toxic gas charged onto Rustaveli Boulevard in the Georgian capital.

Radio stations broadcast the sound of rumbling tanks and ringing bells.

From midnight Sunday through early today, people carrying flowers and candles thronged the boulevard. About 100,000 Georgians stood with raised fists for a silent moment to honor the dead.

Later, demonstrators burned an effigy of Col. Gen. I. N. Rodionov, regional military commander, in front of the city’s Government House, which overlooks the broad square where Soviet troops moved in.

Nineteen people died in the clash a year ago, and another was killed by troops in a separate incident. Thousands suffered ailments from the gas.

The assault caused a nationwide furor, raised doubts about President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s proclaimed policy of not using troops to stifle dissent and brought many Georgians into the battle for independence.

The memorial protest Sunday and today had more an air of defiance than of mourning. Most speakers spoke of the impetus the deaths gave the republic’s burgeoning independence movement.