Georgia's prime minister has vowed to "root out" the country's "liberal-fascist" opposition, stepping up the government's fierce campaign against its rivals as mass pro-EU protests continue for a second week.

Tbilisi has been rocked by turmoil since the ruling Georgian Dream party, which critics accuse of creeping authoritarianism and returning the country to Russia's orbit, won victory in disputed elections in October.

The government said it would suspend EU membership talks until 2028, sparking unrest and a new wave of demonstrations that were met with a firm hand by the authorities.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has refused to back down in the face of international condemnation, instead intensifying hostilities with pro-EU opposition groups who are demanding a re-run of elections.

"We will do whatever it takes to completely eradicate liberal fascism in Georgia," he told reporters.

"This process has already begun. These recent events mark the beginning of the end of liberal fascism in Georgia," he said, using language reminiscent of that used by the Kremlin in Russia against its political opponents.

He also urged "parents to protect their children from the influence of liberal fascist centres" - a reference to the young protesters who took to the streets of Tbilisi in nightly rallies.

The comments come a day after masked police raided several opposition party headquarters and arrested opposition leaders.

Some 300 people were detained and dozens injured, including protesters and police, in clashes outside the parliament building in central Tbilisi last week.

Several demonstrators, including journalists, required hospital treatment after being detained and, they claimed, beaten by security forces.

Human rights ombudsman Levan Josseliani accused the police of using "torture" against those detained during the rallies.

Georgian police arrested seven people for "organising and directing group violence" and confiscated boxes of fireworks that had been set off by protesters against riot police.

Opposition leader Nika Gwaramia of the Akhali party was beaten and detained during a police raid, with television footage showing him being carried out, apparently unconscious, by masked security forces.

The United States is among the countries that have condemned the crackdown in Georgia and threatened further sanctions against the country's leaders.

"The United States strongly condemns the Georgian Dream Party's brutal and unjustified violence against Georgian citizens, protesters, members of the media, and opposition figures," U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a statement.

Kobakhidze rejected Blinken's statements and said that Tbilisi hopes for better relations with Washington after Donald Trump comes to power. | BGNES