In Georgia, parliament passed a law on so-called ‘foreign influence’ on Wednesday. This stipulates that organizations that receive at least one fifth of their financing from abroad must register. Protests against the new law have been going on for weeks.
Critics see clear parallels in this with the law against ‘foreign agents’ in Russia. This allows the authorities there to take massive action against critical media and organizations. On Wednesday evening, the new law was adopted in its second reading with 83 votes in favor and 23 against.
Tens of thousands on the streets
Shortly after the decision, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets. Opponents see it as an instrument to suppress critical media and organizations. People gathered in front of the parliament building in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, waving the flags of the country and the European Union.
Mistreatment of government opponents?
The day before, police had dispersed the demonstrators with tear gas and rubber bullets. 63 people were arrested, including the leader of the main opposition party, who said he had been abused by police. He published a photo showing his face swollen with blood.
Iraqi Prime Minister Kobachidze justified the police crackdown. The law that controls non-governmental organizations protects the country against polarization and radicalization in the long term. In the future, they must be held accountable if they receive more than a fifth of their income from abroad. This applies, for example, to projects that want to promote democracy and work with money from EU countries or the US.
Here you can see Josep Borrell’s tweet.
Criticism from the EU and Vienna
Protests against the “Russian law” have been going on in the former Soviet republic for several weeks (see video above). EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell criticized the police operation against peaceful protesters: “Georgia is a candidate for EU membership. I call on the authorities to guarantee the right to peaceful assembly,” he wrote on the X platform.
The Foreign Ministry in Vienna was also “deeply concerned” about the violence. “We support the right of Georgians to protest and call for a return to dialogue,” the report said.
Source: Krone
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