Georgians protest against Russian soldiers at port

POTI, Georgia (Reuters) – Up to 1,000 Georgians protested angrily on Saturday against the presence of about 20 Russian soldiers at a post just outside the strategic Black Sea port of Poti, insisting they had no right to stay there.

Earlier, a senior Russian general in Moscow said Russian forces would patrol the town — vital for Georgia’s economy — even though it lies outside the buffer zone with breakaway Abkhazia and where Moscow says its peacekeepers will operate.

The soldiers, who had been digging trenches at the post, told the crowd they were peacekeepers. They wore peacekeeping badges. The protesters honked car horns and waved Georgian flags.