The draft law on “foreign agents” that Georgian MPs are preparing to adopt brought thousands of Georgians to the streets on Tuesday 7 March. This text is denounced by critics of power as a tool of intimidation against the media and NGOs.
Police used tear gas and water cannons against protesters who had gathered outside parliament after MPs passed the bill at first reading, according to footage from independent Pireli TV. TV. During the largely peaceful rally, at least one protester threw a Molotov cocktail at a cordon of riot police, according to the same source.
Demonstrators were protesting against this law which provides that organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad should register as“foreign agents”, subject to fines. As reminded Reporters Without Bordersthis text recalls a similar law adopted in Russia in 2012 and which the Kremlin has widely used to repress the media and opposition organizations or simple critical voices.
The president supports the protesters
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili spoke on television from New York to say ” alongside “ Some protestors. “Today you represent free Georgia which sees its future in Europe and which will not let anyone steal this future from it”she added, asking that the law be “repealed” and promising to veto it.
However, this veto could be overcome by the ruling Georgian Dream party, which controls more than half of the seats in parliament. Georgia, a small ex-Soviet republic in the Caucasus, has ambitions to join the EU and NATO, but several government moves have recently cast a shadow over those aspirations and raised doubts about its ties to the Kremlin.
❗️ Protesters in #Tbilisi have broken through barricades and are trying to break into the Georgian parliament build… https://t.co/YcbsCwYCqk
Police using water cannon against peaceful demonstrator waving EU flag outside the Georgian Parliament protesting t… https://t.co/OxugHQ78Lj
The US Embassy in Georgia denounced the law passed on first reading, considering it to be a “dark day for Georgian democracy”. “Parliament’s adoption of these Kremlin-inspired laws is incompatible with the clear desire of the Georgian people to integrate into Europe and develop democratically”she said in a post on facebook.
“The continuation of these laws will harm Georgia’s relations with its strategic partners”the embassy said, although the United States also has a law on “foreign agents”.