In Tbilisi police are dispersing the anti-president rally with devices sending bursts of sound. The low-frequency sound waves cause sickness and nausea. Tear gas and water cannons have also been used.

Nevertheless, allegedly about 70,000 people have been demonstrating, and clashing with the police in Tbilisi. Now they are gathering on the bank of the Kura River in Tbilisi to continue the rally.

It's reported that about 40 people have been injured, and there is information that weapons have been used against the demonstrators, although this hasn't been confirmed.

Russia Today's own correspondent Ekaterina Azarova and cameraman Evgeny Litovko, were caught up in the police crackdown. They were conducting a live television broadcast when special forces began to spray tear gas, as a result of which our team suffered gas poisoning. 

Opposition supporters began to return to the Parliament building after the police initially broke up the rally early in the morning. The protesters planned to stage another rally but were confronted by about a thousand riot police, who used tear gas and water cannons to disperse them.

The police are trying to keep people in small groups and prevent them from re-grouping.

There are also reports that the army is approaching Tbilisi.

The Speaker for the Georgian Parliament, Nino Burdhanadze, has offered to meet the opposition leaders to settle the matter

On Wednesday the protesters intended to set up camp near the Georgian Parliament building, but at about 8 am local time (4 am GMT) some 250 policemen suddenly surrounded the handful of protesters on the square. One of the opposition leaders, Georgy Haindrava, was arrested and allegedly severely beaten up. Many people around him were also arrested.

Former Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili, who is also a member of the opposition, now claims that about a thousand policemen surrounded 150 protesters, a third of whom were women. Two people, including Haindrava, were taken away.

The Imedi TV channel reports that Haindrava was taken to a drug-testing facility on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs when arrested. The opposition leader declined to take a drugs test. His wife claims that some substance could have been administered to Haindrava forcefully.

Later Mr Haindrava was released.

The police initially re-opened the road to traffic near the Parliament building, but then more protesters arrived.

Earlier the police had  maintained a tight cordon around the building and had been preventing the media from covering events. Some cameramen had their films confiscated, including an RT cameraman, who was thoroughly searched.

After initially removing the protesters from the square most of the police left, but later the opposition supporters began to arrive and the police presence increased.

Georgian police using sound guns, tear gas and water cannons against protesters

The Mayor of Tbilisi, Gigi Ugulava, said in a televised statement that the Georgian capital is no longer “a tense city like in the 1990s” and the opposition had to understand that.

The mass protests started on November 2, with the opposition demanding the resignation of President Mikhail Saakashvili and an early Parliamentary election.

Viktor Sergeev, a political analyst from the Moscow State University of Foreign Relations, says that the current crisis is continuing the chain of developments that usually result in regime change. However, the situation is still developing and it's hard to predict the outcome, he believes.

Vladimir Semago, the State Duma Deputy, has called on Georgians to resolve the conflict peacefully and to consider its neighbours, which are interested in a stable and calm Georgia.

Tatyana Parkhalina, a political analyst from the Centre for European Security, said that the dispersion of the rally in Tbilisi is crucial for Georgian democracy, economic development and the future integration of Georgia into international institutions, because this is an embarrassment for the U.S. and the EU, who've supported President Saakashvili's regime.

“This was the dispersal of a peaceful demonstration by the use of force. And the only ones responsible for all that's happened – and still can happen – are, of course, those in the Georgian government. The united opposition is hesitating and I don’t see any clear way out for them, though I can clearly see what the Georgian government is going to do. It's not going to compromise,” said Irina Sarishvili, one of the opposition leaders.

Konstantin Kosachev, the Head of the State Duma Committee for Foreign Affairs, says the dispersal of the demo is characteristic of the kind of democracy Georgia has now.

“I’m shocked and I’m very surprised because the authorities of Georgia have always proclaimed themselves to be a democratic power. They have always proclaimed their convictions regarding human rights and their adherence to the rule of law. Now we may see how they interpret their internal and international commitments and obligations in this sense.”