(Tbilisi) Nearly a thousand demonstrators, mainly young people, were still gathered Monday in front of the parliament of Georgia, a Caucasian country agitated by massive rallies against a law on “foreign influence” accused of distracting Tbilisi from its European path to take it towards Moscow.
The text is sharply criticized by the United States and the European Union, to which Georgia, a former Soviet republic, has candidate status. It also provoked massive gatherings of opponents, some of which were repressed.
The ruling Georgian Dream party is determined to push it through a parliamentary vote on Tuesday, despite the controversy, after MPs approved it in the legal committee on Monday.
Its opponents, who have been protesting since early April, have dubbed it the “Russian law” because it mimics legislation the Kremlin uses to suppress dissenting voices.
On Monday, the demonstrators, mainly young people, expressed their anger against the project, ensuring that it sabotages their country’s European dreams and endangers democracy.
“This law means that we will not join Europe,” worried Mariam Kalandadzé, 22 years old, but “it’s something that I have always wanted.”
“We plan to stay here as long as it takes,” she said, as students in the capital Tbilisi declared a strike on Monday.
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated on Sunday, some staying all night to prevent MPs from entering parliament.
At dawn, AFP saw police officers arrest and assault a group of demonstrators.
The rallies are taking place in a climate of tension, with the authorities having warned that they will arrest people blocking parliament.
PHOTO GIORGI ARJEVANIDZE, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The rallies take place in a climate of tension.
“If this law passes, we will gradually become Russia,” warned Archil Svanidze, another 26-year-old demonstrator, seeing it as a perfect counter-example of the future he hopes for his country.
Since the start of the rallies, those under 30 have been at the forefront of the movement. But many assure that their elders are also convinced.
“We always knew we were part of Europe. All generations know it,” declared Archil Svanidze, proud to say that his father remained demonstrating for a good part of the night.
Salomé Lobjanidzé, 18, said she was “devastated” by the law.
“If it passes, many of the people who are here today will leave” the country, she predicted.
“Transparency” or repression
If passed, the law will require any NGO or media organization receiving more than 20% of its funding from abroad to register as an “organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power.”
The government assures that this measure aims to force organizations to demonstrate more “transparency” about their funding.
The law has already been approved during two readings, and requires a third vote.
President Salomé Zourabichvili, a pro-European in open conflict with the government, is expected to veto it, but the “Georgian Dream” claims to have enough votes to override it.
The authorities also presented the demonstrators as violent crowds.
The ruling party had already tried to pass this law in 2023, but had to give up because of the massive gatherings it had already caused.
His return to the deputies at the beginning of April created a surprise and provoked demonstrations, some of which were violently repressed.
Bidzina Ivanishvili, a wealthy businessman seen as Georgia’s shadow leader, sees NGOs as an internal enemy serving foreign powers.
During a recent speech, he criticized this “pseudo-elite” and fiercely attacked the West, described as the “global war party”.
This man, prime minister from 2012 to 2013 and today honorary president of the “Georgian Dream”, is accused of affinities with Russia, the country where he made his fortune.
For example, he never condemned the invasion of Ukraine, even though his own country was itself invaded by Russia during a brief war in 2008.