Demonstrations continue in Georgia against the law on “foreign agents”, which the opposition believes is inspired by Vladimir Putin’s Russia and which only serves to eliminate dissent. At least eight demonstrators were injured overnight during protests near the Parliament in Tbilisi, the nation’s capital. The injured “suffered various types of injuries, including injuries to the face, head and various parts of the body, as well as intoxication and respiratory tract complications”, reads a statement from the ministry.
Twenty ambulances are in service in the Parliament area, reports the Novosti-Georgia agency, according to which dozens of protesters and an Interior Ministry official received assistance on site. “I follow the situation in Georgia with great concern and I condemn the violence in the streets of Tbilisi. The Georgian people want a European future for their country”, wrote the president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen yesterday evening, arguing that the country “is at a crossroads”, and inviting him to “stay on course towards Europe”. “We are carefully following what is happening in Tbilisi. We condemn the use of violence during demonstrations in the capital. The Italian Government supports Georgia’s entry into the European Union”, was the comment of the Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani.
The protests have been going on for weeks, in what appears to be a sort of Georgian equivalent of the Ukrainian Maidan. What reignited the opposition’s anger yesterday was the fact that Parliament approved the bill on “foreign agents” at second reading, while the police fired tear gas and stun grenades to clear out a large crowd of demonstrators opposed to the measure . The parliamentary debate was tense, with the expulsion of opposition members and scuffles among deputies, a not uncommon occurrence in the Georgian parliament. The text must pass another vote before becoming law. The bill would require organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence. Since it was proposed, ever-increasing numbers of protesters have taken to the streets every night, and on Wednesday a crowd of tens of thousands of people blocked central Tbilisi in the largest anti-government demonstration yet.
Deputy Interior Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, quoted by Georgian media, said that protesters tried to force their way into Parliament using various objects and attacking policemen. Darakhvelidze said police action on Tuesday led to 63 arrests and six injured police officers. Opponents say the legislation will damage Georgia’s bid to join the European Union, after Tbilisi gained candidate status last December, with the EU enjoying a wide popularity rating in this country of 3.7 millions of inhabitants. Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who opposes the law but has only largely ceremonial powers, told protesters in a video posted on social media to show restraint. The real task, she said, is to oust the government in the October elections. “Our fate will not be determined by this law,” the congresswoman said, quoted by the media. “This fight will take place in the next parliamentary elections, after which this law and many others will be repealed.”
