Georgia in a state of emergency

Mikhail Saakashvili the Georgian president declared a state of emergency for the whole country for 15 days due to opposition protests against his rule.

Protestors have been wanting the president's resignation since mass demonstrations began last week.

Saakashvili accused Russia's special services of fomenting civil unrest in his country.

"Georgia is facing a very serious threat of unrest... High-ranking officials in Russian special services are behind this," he said.

Saakashvili, whose pro-Western leadership had prompted the US to hail Georgia as a "beacon of democracy", said he had evidence for his claim against Russia, but did not elaborate.

"Georgia's foreign ministry today declared several Russian embassy employees persona non grata," he said, adding that they were accused of "espionage activity".

Georgia also recalled its ambassador to Russia "for consultations", its foreign ministry said.

Violence erupted as clashes went on during Wednesday.

Gigi Ugulava, Tbilisi's mayor, defended the action by police, saying: "I was listening to one of the opposition leaders who was saying proudly they planned to pitch tents and set up a tent town in Tbilisi.

"What we did is stop this because it is the will of the people not to have a tent town in Tbilisi."

According to Philly.com, "Police charged into the street in front of parliament in the early morning and chased away more than 100 demonstrators who had remained overnight, Ivlian Khaindrava, a leader of the opposition Republican Party, told The Associated Press."

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