Georgia Video and Report: Riot Police Break Up Opposition Protest

A young man takes on Georgia security forces

Georgian riot police have used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon to disperse several hundred opposition protesters from outside the Parliament building in central Tbilisi.

Several thousand people gathered in the early hours of Thursday to demand the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian president, accusing him of authoritarianism. About 300 remained when police moved in.

Emergency workers treated several people with blood on their faces. A Minister of Interior spokesman said a total of 19 police and protesters were hospitalised with minor injuries.

Police firing on protesters

Nino Burjanadze, who leads opposition party Democratic Movement, said, "There a lot of injured people because the authorities conducted ... a punitive operation. It was not an action aimed at as they say to ‘free the square,’ it was purely a punitive operation."

The Ministry of Interior spokesman said a policeman died in hospital after being hit by a vehicle in a convoy of cars rushing Burjanadze away from the scene.

Georgian police arrest people in a cinema:

Claimed footage of opposition convoy accidentally hitting and killing policeman: