“No to Russian law!”: Tens of thousands of Georgians demonstrate against controversial plan

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Wednesday against a controversial bill targeting the media and NGOs, a day after clashes between protesters and police.

In the city center, Georgian and European Union flags were waved by demonstrators gathered in front of the national parliament. Police used water cannons to disperse them. “No to the Russian law!” chanted the crowd, invited by several NGOs and opposition groups, referring to the bill adopted by Georgian representatives during the first reading on Tuesday.

The text provides that companies receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad are obliged to register as “foreign agents” under penalty.

A law that is “grossly unconstitutional”.

According to its critics, the plan is modeled after a law passed in Russia in 2012, and used by the Kremlin to stifle media and critical voices. “This law is completely unconstitutional and it goes against the will of the Georgian people to become a member of the European Union,” criticized Badri Okojava, a 26-year-old young historian.

Georgia, a former Soviet republic marked by war against Russia in 2008, aims to join the European Union and NATO. However, recent government actions have cast doubt on these aspirations.

“The ideology of this government is cut off from Western civilization,” laments 33-year-old Giorgi Labuchitze. “We will not allow Russia to define our future,” said 16-year-old Elen Xovrely.

However, figures for the number of protesters given by the police and opposition parties were not immediately available. Earlier on Wednesday, more than 1,000 protesters marched down the main avenue of the small Caucasian nation’s capital, Tbilisi, to the parliament building in the afternoon to mark International Women’s Day.

At least 77 arrests

The adoption of the draft law on “foreign agents” in first reading led to thousands of protesters gathering in Tbilisi on Tuesday evening, with protests dispersed by tear gas and water cannons.

At least 77 people were arrested and 50 police officers were injured, the Georgian Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. According to this source, some of the arrested demonstrators were “carrying materials intended for violent activities”.

On Tuesday, the opposition Kirch party said in a statement that its leader, Zurab Jabaritse, had been violently punched “in the jaw” by police during the protests, then arrested and detained.

Irakli Kobakitse, head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, condemned the action of “extremists” and drew a parallel between the protests and the pro-European revolution in Maidan, Ukraine in 2014. “Ukraine, in the end, lost 20%. of its territory,” he said of the Ukrainian territories seized by Moscow since the annexation of Crimea and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 after the revolution.

In a sign of growing concern in the West, EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell on Wednesday condemned the bill, saying it was “incompatible” with EU values ​​and the goal of joining the European bloc.

International reviews

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has vowed to “veto” the law and called for it to be “repealed”. The veto could be overridden by the ruling party Georgian Dream, which controls more than half the seats in parliament.

According to Irakli Kobakits, the second and third reading of the text will take place only in June, after the Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe, reviews the bill.

In recent years, Georgian officials have faced international criticism for alleged rollbacks of democracy that have damaged Tbilisi’s ties with Brussels. Georgia applied to join the EU along with Ukraine and Moldova on February 24, 2022, days after the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory. In June, the EU granted candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, but demanded that Georgia make several reforms before doing so. Achieving similar status.