Thousands of protesters took to the streets of central Tbilisi on Saturday in a rally against a controversial “foreign influence” bill backed by the Georgian government and likened to a Russian law to silence opposition. Marched.
Massive rallies have continued in the Black Sea Caucasus country for almost a month since the ruling Georgian Dream party reinstated a bill that was scrapped last year following a huge backlash.
In the latest protest, demonstrators gathered in Tbilisi’s Central European Square on Saturday evening, an AFP reporter reported.
In the pouring rain, demonstrators chanted “No to Russian laws” and “No to Russian dictatorship” as they waved red and white Georgian flags and blue EU flags amid rows of umbrellas in a large square. .
“We are defending the future and freedom of Europe,” said one of the demonstrators, Mariam Muunluguia, 39, who works for a German company and said she feared the country was moving in the direction of Russia. He added that
“We don’t need to go back to the Soviet Union,” said Lela Chiklauri, 38, a Georgian language teacher.
The EU, US and United Nations have voiced opposition to the bill, with UN human rights chief Volker Türk expressing concern about police violence against demonstrators.
Georgian police violently dispersed demonstrations on April 30, firing tear gas, water cannons, and rubber bullets, and beating and arresting scores of people.
The bill passed its second reading in parliament this month ahead of parliamentary elections in October seen as a key test of democracy in the former Soviet republic as it seeks to join the EU.
If passed, the law would require independent NGOs and news organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “organizations pursuing the interests of foreign powers.”
Georgian Dream defended the bill, saying it would increase transparency over NGOs’ overseas funding. He said he aims to sign the bill into law by mid-May.
Last year, large street protests forced Georgian Dream to abandon plans for a similar measure, but it has since reintroduced the bill.
“This year, the waves of people and anger are even stronger,” said Henri Papize, a 21-year-old student. “We are not victims of propaganda. We will not stand still. We will not become slaves of the Russian Empire.”
Another protester, Viktoria Sarziveladze, 46, wrapped in a Ukrainian flag, said her husband was there fighting against Russia.
He said people “feel angry and betrayed” by the government’s reintroduction of the bill, and linked this to a “pre-election power struggle”.
“The only serious critical voices that remain are the NGO sector and independent media,” she says.
Georgia has long sought to deepen ties with the West, but Georgian Dream has been accused of trying to draw the country closer to Russia.
The party’s honorary chair, former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, is widely seen as pulling the strings of power behind the scenes.
While fostering ties with Moscow, he is also committed to a future within the EU.
In an unusual speech last month, Ivanishvili slammed NGOs, calling them “fake elites cultivated by foreign countries,” and blaming Western countries, not Russia, for Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008 and the attack on Ukraine in 2022. he accused.
