After strong rebukes and criticism and several days of violent protests in Georgia capital of Tbilisi against the draft law on foreign agents criticized as potentially stifling media freedom and civil society, Georgia’s ruling party announced Thursday it is withdrawing the law from the parliament.
Citing the divisions in the society it triggered, Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party and its allies said they were withdrawing the proposed law that required individuals, media, and NGOs that receive over 20% of their funding from foreign sources to register as “agents of foreign influence.”
The proposed bill was strongly criticized not only by the nongovernmental organizations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch but also by European Union officials, such as the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who condemned Georgian controversial draft law as damaging for Georgia’s ties with the EU, as well as MEPs Maria Kaljurand and Sven Mikser, who stressed that the law goes directly against Georgia’s declared ambition to become EU member.
The mass protests that the proposed legislation has triggered in the country’s capital were brutally dispersed by the police which used tear gas, water cannons, and flash bangs, sparking even stronger opposition among demonstrators, who surrounded the parliament building in Tbilisi on Wednesday evening.
In their efforts to breach the gates and enter the parliament building, as live-streams of the protest showed, demonstrators broke several windows on the building and, at one point, even gunshots could be heard.
There were also reports that demonstrators were building barricades, hurling Molotov cocktails, and tossing stones at the security forces – some 50 officers ended up wounded- which arrested at least 76 people.
Meanwhile, Russian media reported that early on Thursday, a large line of vehicles with both Russian and Georgian license plates seeking entry to Russia from Georgia has assembled at the border between the two countries.
Reports noted hundreds of cars lined up outside the Verkhny Lars checkpoint, describing the queue of cars as up to 2km long, with some travelers reporting that they had to wait for hours to get out from Georgia to the other side.
