Georgian police fire rubber bullets at protesters

TBILISI: Police in Georgia fired rubber bullets at opposition protesters holding an all-night demonstration in Tbilisi after they attacked a car full of people early on Sunday officials said.

Local television showed pictures of a group of protesters with sticks attacking the car, smashing its windows and beating people inside.

"Police were forced to use rubber bullets to defend peaceful citizens," interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP.

A spokeswoman for opposition leader Nino Burjanadze said the clash was provoked by the people in the car who tried to seize one of the activists from the protest outside the Georgian public television studios.

"People in the car were trying to kidnap one of the rally organisers and the protesters attempted to defend him," Burjanadze's spokeswoman Khatuna Ivanishvili told AFP.

Around 6,000 protesters from the National Assembly opposition alliance demonstrated in Tbilisi on Saturday, accusing President Mikheil Saakashvili of authoritarianism and calling for him to resign.

Hundreds more rallied in the Black Sea resort of Batumi where protests were broken up by police after activists tried to force their way into a local telvision station.

The National Assembly alleged that hundreds of its activists have been arrested over the past three days.

"The authorities are carrying out a terror campaign against opposition supporters," Nino Burjanadze told AFP.

However, interior ministry denied this, saying that only those who attacked the car in Tbilisi had been detained.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011