Protesters and police skirmished in Georgia’s capital for a fourth straight night on Sunday, with signs that opposition was spreading across the country to the government’s decision to suspend talks on joining the EU, writes Reuters.

“Tensions have been rising for months in the country of 3.7 million people between the ruling Georgian Dream party and opponents who accuse it of pursuing increasingly authoritarian, anti-Western and pro-Russian policies.

The crisis has deepened since Thursday’s announcement that the government would freeze EU talks for four years, with thousands of pro-EU demonstrators facing off against police armed with tear gas and water cannon.

Protesters gathered again in Tbilisi on Sunday night on the central Rustaveli Avenue. Beyond the capital, demonstrators had blocked an access road into the country’s main commercial port in the Black Sea city of Poti.

The EU and the United States are alarmed by what they see as Georgia’s shift away from a pro-Western path and back towards Russia’s orbit. Georgian Dream says it is acting to defend the country’s sovereignty against outside interference”.