A South Ossetian man sits in a restaurant as Russian armored vehicles move in the direction of North Ossetia on Saturday, in the outskirts of Dzhava, Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia. Russian forces left parts of Georgia on Friday as part of a cease-fire deal.

Poti, Georgia ? Thousands of Georgians demanded that Russian troops leave the outskirts of this strategic Black Sea port on Saturday and took to the streets in protest, while a top Russian general said his country’s forces would keep patrolling the area.

The comments by deputy head of the general staff Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, reported by Russian news agencies, showed that despite protests from the United States, France and Britain, Russia was confident enough to occupy whatever part of Georgia it deemed necessary.

“Russian military: You are not a liberating military, you are an occupying force!” one man shouted at the Poti protest. Banners read “Say No to War” and “Russia go home.”

On Friday, Russia said it had pulled back forces from Georgia in accordance with an EU-brokered cease-fire agreement.

“There are very specific requirements for Russian withdrawal. Putting up permanent facilities and checkpoints are inconsistent with the agreement. We are in contact with the various parties to obtain clarification,” White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office said he had pressed Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during a phone conversation Saturday to quickly remove Russian troops from an axis between the Georgian towns of Poti and Senaki.

Russia’s pullback on Friday came two weeks to the day after thousands of Russian soldiers roared into the former Soviet republic following an assault by Georgian forces on the separatist region of South Ossetia. The fighting left hundreds dead and nearly 160,000 people homeless.

It also has deeply strained relations between Moscow and the West. Russia has frozen its military cooperation with NATO, Moscow’s Cold War foe, underscoring a growing division in Europe.

On Saturday, residents of the strategic central city of Gori began returning. Chaotic crowds of people and cars were jammed outside the city as Georgian police tried to control the mass return by setting up makeshift checkpoints.

Those who were let through came back to find a city battered by bombs, suffering from food shortages and gripped by anguish.

Surman Kekashvili, 37, stayed in Gori, taking shelter in a basement after his apartment was destroyed by a Russian bomb. Several days ago, he tried to bury three relatives killed by the bomb, placing what body parts he could find in a shallow grave covered by a burnt log, a rock and a piece of scrap metal.

“I took only a foot and some of a torso. I could not get the other bodies out,” he said.