2024-04-16 05:36:48
About 10,000 demonstrators gathered tonight in the Georgian capital Tbilisi to protest against the controversial draft law on “foreign agents”, which last year sparked large-scale demonstrations and was described by its opponents as illiberal, reported AFP.
The ruling Georgian Dream party announced in early April the re-submission for a vote of the bill, the first version of which was abandoned after the protests that brought together tens of thousands of people in Tbilisi in March 2023. The text is believed to be inspired by Russian legislation and is directed against the opponents of the government, BTA reported.
The protest crowd today chanted “No to the Russian law!” while waving the national flag and that of the European Union, which Georgia hopes to join, in front of the parliament building, according to AFP.
Opponents of the bill say it is inspired by a Russian law used for years by the Kremlin to persecute dissidents.
“We reject this law, which is anti-European. It is a copy of the draconian Russian law,” said Maka Kvirikadze, a student who came to protest.
“Georgia will not be accepted into the EU with such anti-democratic laws, that’s why we will not allow them to be accepted,” dentist Giorgi Lashhi said at the protest, adding: “Georgia belongs to Europe and will never be Russia’s backyard again.”
For years, Georgia has had the ambition to deepen its relations with the West, but the ruling party has been accused of wanting to bring the former Soviet republic closer to Russia.
Earlier today, when the debates began between the deputies in the parliament on this text, a fight broke out in the hall between several people’s representatives.
Footage from the parliamentary session shows how an opposition MP hits a lawmaker from the ruling party, co-author of the bill, in the head, which leads to a bigger brawl and interruption of the live broadcast of the plenary session, BTA reported.
Last week, about 8,000 people protested against the bill in the Georgian capital, according to AFP.
The draft law requires organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register with the stigmatizing label “organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power.” Otherwise there are fines. This label was changed from the term “agent of foreign influence” in the first version of the 2023 bill.
The government is defending the draft legislation, which it says will require organizations to be “more transparent” about their funding. Opponents of the bill see it as a tool to intimidate independent non-governmental organizations and the media, notes AFP.