Georgian police release opposition leader’s son

The son of Georgian opposition leader Nino Burdzhanadze was released on Thursday morning after being detained while visiting opposition protesters injured in clashes with police, Georgian media said.

Riot police dispersed a five-day central Tbilisi protest against President Mikheil Saakashvili’s rule in the early hours of Thursday.

The street where they gathered was to host a military parade to mark the 20th anniversary of Georgian independence later on Thursday.

A RIA Novosti correspondent reported that hundreds of police officers and two armored vehicles were deployed to deal with the protest.

Some key opposition leaders, including Irakli Batiashvili of the People’s Assembly party and the Georgian Party’s co-founder Levan Gachechiladze, are unaccounted for after police used water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas against the protestors.

The Interior Ministry said two people, one a former and the other a current police officer, were killed after being run over by a motorized convoy of opposition leaders fleeing the scene.

A total of 37 people remain in hospital. Eight of them are police officers.

Opposition figures accuse the police of using “disproportionate force”.

TBILISI, May 26 (RIA Novosti) 

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