Law enforcement officers have detained Mikheil Saakashvili, hours after the firebrand Ukrainian opposition activist and former Georgian president called on Ukrainians to demonstrate in the capital against the government.

Three associates of Saakashvili told RFE/RL that he was taken from an apartment of one of his friends, where he was visiting.

Close ally David Sakvarelidze said the agents were from the state security agency, the SBU, and that Saakashvili was now being taken to a SBU detention center.

Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko later confirmed his detention, saying in a post to his Facebook page that "everything was done to avoid bloodshed."

"The detainee is placed in a temporary detention facility," he wrote.