Riot police, tear gas and smoke grenades: this is what the streets of the capital of Georgia — a South Caucasus republic at the crossroads of Europe and Asia — look like on the sixth consecutive day of mass protests.

The demonstrators are backed by Georgia's pro-EU president Salome Zurabishvili, who has vowed to stay in office until fresh elections, despite her term being officially set to end.

Georgia's president said Monday that mass pro-EU protests involving tens of thousands of people showed no sign of stopping after police fired water cannon and tear gas on a fourth night of demonstrations.

Georgia's rights ombudsman on Tuesday accused police of torturing pro-European Union protesters rallying for six consecutive days against the government's decision to shelve EU accession talks amid a post-election crisis.

Georgia's prime minister on Tuesday threatened to punish his political opponents, accusing them of being behind violence at mass protests, as Tbilisi's top court rejected a key lawsuit to annul the result of a contested October vote.