Anastasia Pechenyuk 20:48, 07.03.23 UNIAN
The law on “foreign agents” poses a threat to the country’s European integration, protesters say.
In Tbilisi, a mass protest against the law on “foreign agents” adopted by parliament in the first reading (a similar one is in force in Russia).
As SOVA and Georgia Online write, on Wednesday, March 7, opponents of the draft law on “foreign agents” that could restrict the freedom of non-governmental organizations in the country gathered near the building of the Georgian parliament. Special Forces were sent to the scene.
The protesters call the said law “Russian” and one that poses a threat to the country’s European integration. They call to prevent its adoption.
The protesters under the parliament building unfurled EU flags and chanted “No to the Russian law.” Their attempts to approach the entrances to the parliament building led to clashes with law enforcement officers.
https://www.unian.net/player/sty3BKGRProtest in Georgia over the law on “foreign agents”
The security forces called on the protesters near the parliament to disperse, after which they began to disperse them using tear gas. After the tear gas, the Georgian Interior Ministry also used water cannons. This happened on the streets of Chichinadze and Chitadze located next to the parliament.
Subsequently, the department stated that the reason for the violence against the protesters was allegedly that the action had become violent.
The law on foreign agents in Georgia – what is known
On March 7, the Parliament of Georgia in the first hearing adopted the bill “On transparency of foreign influence” (the so-called bill on “foreign agents”). For the adoption of the law in the first reading, 76 votes were required, exactly this number of deputies supported the bill.
The law declares non-governmental organizations and part of the media “agents of foreign influence.” A similar one operates in Russia and has already allowed the authorities to restrict the work of many media and organizations.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, speaking at the UN, reacted to the support of the law of parliaments.
“The bill presented by some groups in my country, which will restrict the freedom of non-governmental organizations (in which, it must be said, the majority are women activists), will be extremely harmful for the democratic transformation of our society, the elimination of gender discrimination and, in fact, the path of our European integration. Based on this, I have already expressed my strong disagreement with this bill and I use this opportunity to state my position here as well,” she said.
On the eve of the consideration of the law, hundreds of citizens gathered under the parliament building, who disagreed with the prospective adoption of it.
Look and sound familiar? If Moskali are not kept in their cages the ruzzki mir disease will spread. Have we still not learned from history?!
This is really bad. Ivanishvili is taking Georgia another step towards becoming another Belarus.
Georgian people love Ukraine, but they have been forced to live under a ruler that wants to transform Georgia into Belarus.
It’s time for Freedom Square Maidan!