Tension mounts as Georgian riot police clash with protesters over foreign agents bill 2.0

Tension mounts as Georgian riot police clash with protesters over foreign agents bill 2.0

Riot police used pepper spray to disperse protestors and officers clashed with demonstrators, leading to the detention of at least 11, while water cannons stood at the ready. / bne IntelliNews

By Tornike Mandaria in Tbilisi April 17, 2024

Tensions are reaching a boiling point in Tbilisi as protests mount against the bill "Transparency of Foreign Influence", which has sparked anger across Georgia and concerns in the West.

On Tuesday, Riot police moved into the crowd of demonstrators, clearing them from around part of the country's parliament, as inside the building lawmakers debated the bill that is widely denounced as authoritarian. It mandates organisations such as media or NGOS that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as being influenced by foreign powers.

The bill has triggered widespread outrage in Georgia and raised concerns in the West, and could jeopardise Georgia's aspirations for EU membership, which over 80% of Georgians support.

Approximately 10,000 protesters gathered outside the parliament building in Tbilisi, surpassing the previous day's turnout, to denounce the bill with chants of "No to the Russian law!"

Critics draw parallels between this bill and Russian laws used by the Kremlin to suppress civil society and media freedoms. The term "foreign agent," rooted in the Soviet era, carries connotations of treason and enmity towards the state. Some of Georgia's most prominent thinkers were repressed under the same pretext during the Soviet era.

Riot police used pepper spray to disperse protestors and officers clashed with demonstrators, leading to the detention of at least 11, while water cannons stood at the ready.

In the early hours of the morning, around 01:00, special forces brutally assaulted rally participants, pursuing individuals into alleyways and subjecting solitary individuals to physical violence.

Three journalists, including those from Tabula, April Media and Publika were attacked by the police.

President Salome Zurabishvili, a vocal critic of the ruling party, condemned the authorities' insistence on passing the law, labelling it a Russian-style tactic of destabilisation.

"The insistence of the authorities to push through this law against the will of the population and despite partners' protest is a direct provocation – a Russian strategy of destabilisation," the president said on X.

With 84 seats under its control in the 150-member legislature, the ruling Georgian Dream party can pass the law regardless of opposition protests.

Despite claims from Georgia's government that the law aims to enhance transparency and combat foreign imposition of "pseudo-liberal values", Western critics argue it undermines Georgia's EU aspirations.

Charles Michel, head of the EU's European Council, emphasised that the draft law contradicts Georgia's EU accession trajectory.

"Let me be clear: the draft Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence is not consistent with Georgia’s EU aspiration and its accession trajectory and will bring Georgia further away from the EU and not closer," Michel said on X.

Expressing deep concern, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller reiterated that Washington was "deeply concerned about that law" and supports freedom of expression and speech.

Georgian Dream unexpectedly reintroduced the bill this month, more than a year after abandoning a previous attempt in March last year to pass the law amidst protests.

If the bill secures approval in its first parliamentary reading on April 17, it will undergo two additional readings. President Zourabichvili retains the power to veto the law, though this can be overriden by a simple majority in the parliament.

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