Thousands of people protested against a new controversial bill in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Tuesday. Under the proposal, organizations whose funding exceeds 20 percent comes from abroad must register as “foreign agents.” If they fail to do so, they can face heavy fines.
According to many, the law is a way to silence critics of the government, which sometimes depend on money flows from abroad. If an organization is registered as a foreign agent, the authorities can monitor it more extensively. However, the law received provisional approval from parliament, international news agencies report.
Many people then took to the streets in the center of Tbilisi to demonstrate against the proposal. Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters. Opponents say the law jeopardizes Georgia’s chance to join the European Union. “I know my country belongs to Europe, but my government doesn’t understand that,” one protester told Reuters news agency.
Possible veto
Critics fear that Georgia is slowly becoming more authoritarian. On the streets of Tbilisi, some demonstrators pointed to Russia: “no to Russian law,” activists shouted on the steps of the parliament building. The largest party in the country, ‘Georgian Dream’, supports the law. The same party wants Georgia to join the European Union. According to Prime Minister Giorgi Garibashvili, the law meets “European and global standards”.
The law is also controversial within parliament: on Monday a fight broke out between politicians in the parliament building after a debate about the proposal. In a video message, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili criticized the plans. In that message, she says she is willing to use her right of veto to prevent the law from being introduced. How much effect that would have is the question: parliament, in turn, has the power to override the president’s veto. The US embassy in Tbilisi also reacted critically to the provisional approval of the law: March 7 would be a “dark day for Georgian democracy,” the embassy wrote on its website. website.