Thousands rally in Georgia as president challenges vote in court

Tbilisi: Thousands rallied in Georgia on Tuesday in support of President Salome Zurabishvili s lawsuit to annul last month s parliamentary election re...

Tbilisi: Thousands rallied in Georgia on Tuesday in support of President Salome Zurabishvili's lawsuit to annul last month's parliamentary election result, which the pro-Western opposition denounced as rigged in favour of the ruling party.

The rally came hours after police violently dismantled a sit-in protest outside Tbilisi State University, where dozens of demonstrators had set up tents and blocked traffic in protest at the contested vote.

The European Union and the United States have called for a probe into "irregularities" during the October 26 election, won by the governing Georgian Dream party.

The opposition says the government is skewing the Caucasus country's foreign policy towards Russia and derailing its path to joining the European Union, an accusation Georgian Dream denies.

Pro-Western president Zurabishvili -- who is at loggerheads with Georgian Dream -- has called the vote illegitimate and accused Russia of interference, a claim Moscow has denied.