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Thousands of protesters marched through central Tbilisi on Saturday in a rally against a controversial “foreign influence” bill backed by the Georgian government and likened to Russian laws stifling dissent.
Massive rallies covered the Black Sea Caucasian country for almost a month after the ruling Georgian Dream party revived the bill, which was rejected last year amid a huge backlash.
Demonstrators gathered in the center of Tbilisi Europe Square on Saturday night in the latest protest, an AFP journalist reported.
In pouring rain, protesters chanted “No to Russian law” and “No to Russian dictatorship”, waving red and white Georgian flags and blue EU flags in a sea of umbrellas in the main square.
“We are defending our European future and our freedom,” said one of the protesters, Mariam Meungrgia, 39, who works for a German company, adding that she feared the country was heading in Russia’s direction.
“We don’t need to go back to the Soviet Union,” said 38-year-old Georgian language teacher Lela Tsiklauri.
The EU, US and UN have spoken out against the legislation, with UN human rights chief Volker Türk also expressing concern about police violence against protesters.
Georgian the police violently dispersed a demonstration on April 30, firing tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets and beating and arresting dozens of people.
The bill passed a second reading in parliament this month, ahead of parliamentary elections in October seen as a key test of democracy in the EU-aspiring former Soviet republic.
If passed, the law would require any independent NGO and media organization receiving more than 20 percent of its funding from abroad to register as an “organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power.”
Georgian Dream defended the bill, saying it would increase transparency regarding foreign funding of NGOs. He says he aims to sign the measure into law by mid-May.
Last year, mass street protests forced Georgian Dream to abandon plans for similar measures, but it has since reintroduced the bill.
“This year the wave of people and the anger is stronger,” said 21-year-old student Henri Papidze. “We are not victims of propaganda. We won’t stop. We will not be slaves to the Russian Empire.
Another protester, Victoria Sarveladze, 46, was wrapped in a Ukrainian flag and said her husband was fighting against Russia there.
She said they “felt angry and betrayed” that the government had reintroduced the bill, linking it to a “power struggle ahead of the election”.
“The only serious critical voices left are in the NGO sector and the independent media,” she said.
Georgia has sought to deepen its relationship with the West for years, but Georgian Dream has been accused of trying to steer the country closer to Russia.
The party’s honorary chairman, former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, is seen as pulling the strings of power from the back seat.
He maintains relations with Moscow while promising a future in the EU.
Last month, in a rare speech, Ivanishvili attacked NGOs, calling them a “pseudo-elite fed by a foreign state” and blamed Western countries – not Russia – for Moscow’s 2008 invasion of Georgia and the 2022 attack on Ukraine.
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