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Georgia protests: Thousands storm parliament over Russian MP's speech | |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Protesters have attempted to storm Georgia's parliament during a mass rally against a speech inside the chamber by a Russian lawmaker. | |
Riot police stopped them from entering the building, reportedly using tear gas and rubber bullets. | |
Tensions flared up when Sergei Gavrilov addressed an assembly of MPs from Orthodox Christian countries from the seat of the speaker. | |
Russia and Georgia have fought over two breakaway Georgian regions. | |
Abkhazia and South Ossetia were occupied by Russia in 2008. | |
Moscow recognises them as independent states and Russian troops have remained there since. | |
What caused the protests? | |
Mr Gavrilov was taking part in the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO), a body set up by the Greek parliament in 1993 to foster relationships between Christian Orthodox lawmakers. | |
Opposition MPs in Georgia's pro-Western parliament called for protests in response to his decision to deliver a speech from the speaker's seat. | |
He addressed delegates in Russian, angering politicians and Georgians vehemently opposed to Moscow's presence in the country. | |
Calling for speaker Irakli Kobakhidze and other officials to resign, about 10,000 protesters breached the police cordon in the capital, Tbilisi, AFP news agency reports. | |
Some were carrying EU flags and placards reading "Russia is an occupier". | |
Giga Bokeria, an opposition MP for the European Georgia party, told AFP the rally outside parliament was "a spontaneous protest by ordinary Georgians". | |
Inside parliament, opposition lawmakers blocked the presidium and demanded that the parliamentary speaker, interior minister and state security service chief all resign over the incident. | |
The session was suspended and Mr Gavrilov has reportedly left the country. | |
"That was a slap in the face of recent Georgian history," Elene Khoshtaria, an opposition member of parliament, said. | |
A spontaneous demonstration | |
Analysis by BBC News' Rayhan Demytrie in Tbilisi | |
The protest continues outside parliament building in Tbilisi in spite of repeated use of tear gas by the police. Several protesters have been injured, I saw one man with a bleeding mouth who said that he was standing close to parliament entrance and was hit by a rubber bullets. | |
Riot police gear such as plastic shields and helmets were seized by some protesters and passed through the crowd. | |
This demonstration gathered spontaneously in response to calls from the Georgian opposition to protest against what many Georgians say was an outrageous act - to see an MP from an "occupying" country entering their parliament. | |
Anti-Russian sentiment is strong in Georgia which fought a war with Russia over its breakaway region of South Ossetia in 2008. South Ossetia and another breakaway region of Abkhazia are supported by Russia both financially and militarily. | |
Why are there tensions between Georgia and Russia? | |
When Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, separatist conflicts erupted in the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. | |
In August 2008, Georgia attempted to recapture South Ossetia, which it had fought a separatist war against in the 1990s. | |
Russia poured troops in, ousting Georgian forces from South Ossetia and Abkhazia. | |
Following a ceasefire, Russia withdrew most of its troops from undisputed parts of Georgia but still maintains a military presence in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, recognising both as "independent" states. | |
Since then, diplomatic relations between Russia and Georgia have been severed. | |
To the ire of Moscow, Georgia has ambitions to join the European Union and Nato. |