European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana speaks to journalists after a meeting with Georgia's Prime minister Lado Gurgenidze ahead of an emergency summit of European Union leaders on the crisis in Georgia at the headquarters of the European Council in Brussels yesterday. Photo: AFP

European leaders met yesterday seeking a way to condemn Russia's conflict against Georgia as hundreds of thousands of people staged an anti-Russian rally in the Georgian capital.
EU heads of state started an emergency summit on the Georgia crisis with divisions between Eastern European nations and Britain which want a tough line against Moscow, while Germany and France lead a group opposed to any move which provokes the Kremlin.
Britain urged the suspension of negotiations on a successor to the current accord that set out EU-Russia relations. Talks on a new agreement are due this month.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote on the eve of the summit that there should be a "root and branch" review of EU relations with Moscow.
"It's vital we send a strong and united EU message today. We must be clear in our support for Georgia's territorial integrity and in our condemnation of Russia's action," his spokesman said Monday.
Poland said the 27-nation bloc should consider calling off an EU-Russia summit in October.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU must "speak clearly" over the crisis but insisted that the bloc "should not cut off dialogue" with Russia over the five day war.
The Kremlin ordered tanks and troops into Georgia last month to push back a Georgian offensive on August 7 to retake South Ossetia, a separatist region that broke away from Tbilisi in the early 1990s with Moscow's backing.
Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev upped the stakes last week by recognising the independence of South Ossetia and a second separatist region Abkhazia, drawing fierce criticism from the West.
Russian troops still hold positions in western Georgia after the five-day conflict, serving in what Moscow describes as a peacekeeping mission. Tbilisi calls them an occupation force.
In Tbilisi, Georgians staged what officials called the biggest protest in the country's history against the Russian action.
"Georgia is united as never before, there are one million people on the streets," President Mikheil Saakashvili told a huge crowd on Freedom Square in central Tbilisi that was awash with the red crosses of the national flag.
Simultaneous protests took place in several other towns against Russia's partial occupation of Georgia and the decision by Moscow to recognise the two separatist provinces.
Huge posters depicting graphic images of dead and injured from last month's fighting against Russia hung from buildings along the protest route.
Similar demonstrations were planned in European cities including Brussels, London and Vienna.
Monday's summit was called by French President Nicolas Sarkozy so that the European Union could formulate a "clear and united message" over the conflict.
Talk of slapping sanctions on Russia has waned amid threats from Moscow of retaliatory measures.
EU leaders are expected to concentrate on aid for Georgia, ways to bolster its economy and easing visa restrictions for Georgians.