Several hundred supporters of the opposition party the United National Movement (UNM) are staging a "manifestation of honor" on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi in support of their informal leader, Georgia's ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.

"The oligarchs' rule in Georgia and in Ukraine [. . .] must stop. Misha [Saakashvili] is at the foremost edge of this fight against the oligarchs," Nika Melia, one of the UNM's leaders, told journalists on Wednesday.

After a failed attempt to apprehend Saakashvili in Kyiv on Tuesday, the UNM released a statement announcing a switch into an "emergency mode of operation" and urged all of its supporters to rally in central Tbilisi on Wednesday.

It has been raining in the Georgian capital since this morning, which has apparently decreased the number of demonstrators heading towards the building of the Georgian State Chancellery.

The Tbilisi demonstration is taking place under the protection of police officers.