BATUMI: Nearly two dozen people were hospitalised Sunday in Georgia's Black Sea port of Batumi after police used tear gas and rubber bullets against hundreds of stone-throwing rioters, local media reported.
The violent clashes reportedly followed a spontaneous protest by local residents against police officers arresting several men who refused to accept a parking fine.
Eleven police and 10 demonstrators were hospitalised with injuries and symptoms of tear gas poisoning, regional healthcare minister Zaal Mikeladze told journalists.
In an effort to calm down the worst riots Georgia has seen in decades, Interior Minister Giorgi Mgebrishvili said he ordered the arrested men be released from custody.
Protesters -- mostly youths -- attempted to storm a police building and torched police cars in the streets of Batumi, the country's second-largest city and the most popular tourist destination, Rustavi-2 TV network reported.
Opposition politicians said that public anger had been growing in Batumi over police issuing disproportionate fines for minor traffic offences.
Georgia had been praised internationally for transforming its once dysfunctional police force into one of the most disciplined law enforcement agencies in the post-Soviet region.
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