TBILISI/MOSCOW:Georgia’s president called Russia “an enemy and occupier” and suggested Moscow had helped trigger protests that rocked Tbilisi. Kremlin in turn blamed radical Georgian politicians for what it called “an anti-Russian provocation”on Friday.

The strong statement from President Salome Zurabishvili followed violent scenes in the Georgian capital, where police late on Thursday used tear gas and fired rubber bullets to stop crowds angered by the visit of a Russian lawmaker from storming the parliament building.

Some 240 people were hurt in clashes as protesters tried to storm Georgia’s parliament after a Russian MP took the speaker’s seat in parliament. Riot police stopped them from entering the building, reportedly using tear gas and rubber bullets.

Anger erupted when Sergei Gavrilov addressed an assembly of MPs from Orthodox Christian countries. The crowds were angry about the visit of Sergei Gavrilov, a member of Russia’s lower house of parliament. Gavrilov was taking part in the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO), a body set up by the Greek parliament in 1993 to foster relationships between Christian Orthodox lawmakers. Gavrilov, president of the IAO’s General Assembly, addressed delegates in his native Russian from the Georgian parliamentary speaker’s seat on Thursday. That angered some politicians and Georgians who want Russia kept at arm’s length.

Russian influence in Georgia is a politically sensitive subject. The small country, a U.S. ally, fought and lost a short war against Moscow in 2008. Tensions with Russia are still high, 11 years after they fought a war over the breakaway region of South Ossetia. (Agencies)