Tbilisi/Moscow  - The Georgian Interior Ministry, under pressure from government critics and the Orthodox Church, on Thursday released three opposition members being held in custody and dropped the charges against them, state television Rustavi 2 reported.

On Wednesday evening opposition elements tried to storm the police headquarters in Tbilisi in a bid to free the fellow members, leading to clashes in which more than 30 people were injured, including leading opposition figures, police and journalists.

The opposition complained of police brutality, saying they used clubs and rubber bullets.

For weeks the critics of the government have been demanding that President Mikhail Saakashvili step down, blaming him for the country's domestic political and economic crisis.

The internal political situation in Georgia has grown critical since the country's disastrous August 2008 war with Russia that resulted in Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia winning political recognition from Moscow. The opposition blames Saakashvili for the war. (dpa)