Police in Georgia's capital early on Tuesday moved in to break up a tent camp that demonstrators set up on a central thoroughfare to protest the results of last month's parliamentary election and demand a new vote.
The Oct. 26 election kept the governing Georgian Dream party in power, but opponents say the vote was rigged. Many Georgians viewed the election as a referendum on the country's effort to join the European Union. Several large protests have been held since then.
Protesters had set up the tent camp in Tbilisi, the capital, and had vowed to stay around the clock to demand new parliamentary elections . As police moved to disperse it, there were scuffles and several protesters were detained, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. Some of the demonstrators were displaying European Union flags.
President Salome Zourabichvili, who has rejected the official results, declared on Monday that she would file a lawsuit to the Constitutional Court, arguing that two fundamental principles guaranteed by the Constitution - the secrecy of the vote and its universality - were violated. Zourabichvili, who holds a mostly ceremonial position, has said Georgia has fallen victim to pressure from Moscow against joining the EU.
Critics have accused Georgian Dream - established by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia - of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow. The party recently pushed through laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ rights.
