More than 10,000 opponents of President Mikheil Saakashvili rallied in Tbilisi on Friday in the first major show of discontent since Georgia's crushing defeat in an August war with Russia.

Organisers vowed the rally, held on the anniversary of a crackdown on anti-government demonstrators last year, would be the first of many to demand Saakashvili's resignation and early elections.

"We are starting a new wave of protests. Our main demand is free and fair parliamentary and presidential elections next spring," opposition leader Levan Gachechiladze told reporters at the start of the rally.