Thousands of Georgians again gathered outside the parliament building in Tbilisi to call for the resignation of President Mikhail Saakashvili, the Russian Interfax news agency reported.

Altogether over 5,000 people gathered on the sixth day of protests in Tblisi. The opposition wants to retain the support of the protestors in their campaign for parliamentary elections in early 2008.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday denied allegations by Saakashvili that Moscow is behind the mass protests.

We are concerned about what is happening in Georgia," Lavrov said. "I am sure the Georgian people deserve a better future and can rely on Russia for support," he said in Moscow.

The mass protests began last Thursday as the biggest since the Rose Revolution in 2003. Demonstrators demand early parliamentary and presidential elections in the spring - and not next autumn as planned - and the release of imprisoned opposition activists.

Both the government and the opposition in Georgia back a pro- Western course for the former Soviet republic. Saakashvili wants Georgia to become a member of the European Union and NATO as soon as possible.