Initiators and participants of the clashes in Batumi will be punished to the fullest extent of the law, Interior Minister of Georgia Georgy Mgebrishvili said.

Police control the situation, said Mgebrishvili who arrived in Batumi a couple of hours ago.

He added that law enforcers have already managed to identify the participants of the unrest, and up to 40 people have been detained.

At least 30 people, 15 of them police officers, were injured in the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi after clashes over a parking fine.

The situation escalated after a man refused to accept a fine for parking in the wrong location. Six people were detained in an argument with police. Several hundred people took to the streets demanding resignation of the chief of police.

Police dispersed the crowd by Sunday morning.