Georgia protesters clash near presidential palace

Georgian riot police have used pepper spray and water cannons to drive demonstrators away from the presidential palace in Tbilisi as the opposition staged a large demonstration on a day of local elections.

The governing Georgian Dream party said it had clinched victory in every municipality across the South Caucasus country of 3.7 million people in an election boycotted by the two largest opposition blocs.

Shortly before polls closed, a group of demonstrators attempted to force entry to the presidential palace, a Reuters witness said, after opposition figures called for a "peaceful revolution" against GD, which they accuse of being pro-Russian and authoritarian.

Georgia's pro-Western opposition has been staging protests since October last year, when GD won a parliamentary election that its critics say was fraudulent. The party has rejected accusations of vote-rigging.

Once one of the most pro-Western nations to emerge from the ashes of the Soviet Union, Georgia has had frayed relations with the West since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

The Health Ministry said 21 members of the security forces and six demonstrators had been injured in clashes in the centre of Tbilisi, according to local media.

Deputy Interior Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze said police detained five activists, including the opera singer Paata Burchuladze and two members of the United National Movement, Georgia's largest opposition party, Georgia's Rustavi-2 television and Russian state media reported.

They are charged with calling for the overthrow of the authorities and face up to nine years in prison, if convicted, Darakhvelidze said.

The government froze accession talks to the European Union soon after last year's vote, abruptly halting a longstanding national goal and triggering large demonstrations that have continued since.

Thousands of protesters gathered on central Freedom Square and Rustaveli Avenue, waving Georgian and EU flags.

Davit Mzhavanadze, who attended the demonstration, said the protests were part of "a deep crisis which is absolutely formed by our pro-Russian and authoritarian government".

"I think this protest will continue until these demands will be responded to properly from our government," he said.

Georgian Dream, which is widely seen as controlled by founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country's richest man and a former prime minister, denies it is pro-Moscow. It says it wants to join the EU while preserving peace with Russia, its huge neighbour to the north.