Up to 70,000 people have protested in Georgia against President Mikhail Saakashvili, demanding early elections. This is the biggest show of unrest since the peaceful revolution that swept him to power four years ago.
Opposition supporters gathered in front of the parliament and along main avenues of the capital Tbilisi.
One of the leaders of the opposition bloc, Shalva Natelashvili, said they want a government to serve its people rather than vice versa.
Protesters vowed to stay on the streets until the government met their demands for early elections, changes in polling rules and the release of what they term political prisoners.
One of the president's close aides described the demand for early elections as unrealistic.
The size of the crowds was similar of the climax of the Rose Revolution, a wave of protests that forced the then president, Eduard Shevardnadze, to resign.
Mr Saakashvili wants to take Georgia into NATO and the EU. US President George Bush has said the country is a beacon of democracy. But critics say that this masks President Saakashvili's intolerance of dissent and some human rights abuse.
The US and EU backed the 2003 revolution and have since supported the Georgian leader in his bitter quarrels with neighbouring Russia.
