Georgian Demonstrators Attempt to Breach Tbilisi Presidential Palace
Police in Georgia have confronted with anti-government protesters attempting to breach the head of state's residence in the capital, Tbilisi.
Riot police employed water cannons and irritant spray to break up the crowd.
The South Caucasus nation has been experiencing turmoil since the governing incumbent party declared success in last year's parliamentary election, which the pro-European Union opposition says was stolen. Following that, the government has paused negotiations on entering the EU.
The demonstration occurred on the same day as local elections, which the opposition is predominantly abstaining from following a government repression. One organiser had earlier demanded officials of the Georgian Dream party to be arrested.
Displaying Georgian and European Union banners, tens of thousands of protesters proceeded in central Tbilisi on the weekend.
One of the organisers, vocalist Paata Burchuladze, read out a statement appealing to the personnel of the interior ministry to obey the will of the public and to immediately arrest several senior figures from the Georgian Dream party.
Protesters then advanced toward the president's office and tried to access the premises, prompting security forces to use chemical irritants.
The demonstration comes after a repressive measures on activists, independent media and opposition groups in the past few months, with most of the figureheads of the pro-Western dissent now in prison.
