A state of emergency in Georgia will be lifted "soon," an official said Friday after President Mikheil Saakashvili called snap presidential polls following anti-government clashes in the capital. "The state of emergency remains in place but the plan is to lift it as soon as possible," interior ministry spokesman Shota Utuashvili told AFP. "The crisis is over and soon there will be no further need for the state of emergency," he added. The parliament was to vote at 1200 GMT to approve the 15-day measure, but it was unclear if that meant it would remain in place for the duration or if the authorities could then lift it at their discretion. "It seems that we will approve the decision on the state of emergency," deputy speaker Mikheil Machavariani said on Georgian state television. "The details of cooperation between certain people with forces unfriendly to our country are not yet clear," he added. Saakashvili declared the state of emergency, including a ban on demonstrations and a news blackout for private television stations, on Wednesday after violent clashes between anti-government protesters and police. Utuashvili said soldiers had been removed from the streets of Tbilisi and that police were only carrying out ordinary patrols. Troops had been deployed in the capital on Thursday. Utuashvili also said that police would investigate allegations of abuse during Wednesday`s crackdown. "The footage that we saw shows that in some cases the police did abuse their powers. This will be investigated and those who abused their powers will be punished," he said. Saakashvili has come under a barrage of international criticism since imposing the state of emergency in the wake of violent clashes, when police used rubber bullets and tear gas against demonstrators. He announced the snap presidential poll and a referendum on a date for parliamentary elections in a surprise television address to the nation on Thursday. He said emergency rule would end soon, but did not specify when. Amid rapidly deteriorating relations between Georgia and its former ruler Russia, Saakashvili also repeated allegations that Moscow was fomenting unrest. He described Wednesday`s protests as "an attack on Georgian democracy." Georgia announced it was expelling three diplomats on spying charges and Russia responded on Thursday by expelling three Georgian diplomats from Moscow. Saakashvili was in danger this week of seeing his image as one of the most democratic leaders in the former Soviet Union tarnished by the brutal police crackdown and the imposition of emergency rule. Georgia`s opposition, which had organised six days of mass protests calling for Saakashvili to resign before the crackdown, claimed victory after Saakashvili announced the snap election and predicted he would be defeated.