The opposition in Georgia on Thursday launched a new call to demonstrate after two days of clashes in this Caucasian country, despite the announcement by the authorities of the withdrawal of a text deemed repressive by its detractors.
The Georgian government is accused of wanting to introduce legislation inspired by the Russian model to classify organizations critical of the government as “foreign agents”.
Former Caucasian Soviet Republic of about four million inhabitants, Georgia has been shaken for years by a political crisis symptomatic of its tug of war between Europe and Russia. Moscow and Tbilisi clashed in 2008 in a short war won by the Russian army.
On Wednesday, for the second consecutive evening, tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in the center of Tbilisi to demand the withdrawal of the text, which provides that NGOs and media receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad be obliged to register as “foreign agents”, on pain of a fine.
But on Thursday morning, after an evening that saw police disperse huge crowds outside parliament with tear gas canisters and water cannons, the ruling Georgian Dream party backtracked.
“As a party of government responsible to every member of society, we have decided to unconditionally withdraw this bill that we support,” he said in a statement posted on his website.
Several opposition parties, however, announced a new demonstration Thursday evening, saying that the mobilization would continue “as long as there is no guarantee that Georgia is firmly committed to a pro-Western path”.
“We demand the immediate release of the dozens of protesters who were arrested” during the rallies on Tuesday and Wednesday, they added.
The Kremlin “worried”
Faced with these troubles in a neighboring country, the Kremlin said Thursday “concerned”, while denying any link with the bill on “foreign agents”.
“The Kremlin has absolutely nothing to do with it,” said its spokesman Dmitry Peskov, as protesters compared the Georgian plan with the law in force in Russia which is used to suppress opponents, NGOs and the media.
The European Union delegation to Georgia welcomed the announcement of the withdrawal of the text, urging “all political leaders in Georgia to resume pro-European reforms, in an inclusive and constructive manner”.
In its press release, the Georgian Dream considers that the bill has been “misrepresented in a bad light”, adding that it would launch public consultations to “better explain” the purpose of this text.
The party in power is therefore not completely closing the door to a future return of this bill to Parliament.
Sign of the violence of the last few days, the opposition party Girch had indicated in a press release that its leader, Zurab Japaridze, had been violently beaten by police and placed in detention.
For his part, the president of the Georgian Dream, Irakli Kobakhidze, denounced the action of “radicals”.
The protests that rocked Georgia on Tuesday and Wednesday are part of a broader political crisis.
Tbilisi officially aims to join the EU and NATO, a direction taken after the “Rose Revolution” of 2003.
This revolution had brought to power the pro-Western Mikheil Saakashvili, who is today in the opposition and in prison from where he denounces a political revenge.
But several recent moves by the current government, such as the “foreign agents” bill, have cast doubt on whether pro-Western aspirations will continue, with the opposition accusing it of backing Moscow.
Sign of growing concern in the West, the head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, had condemned the text on Wednesday, judging it “incompatible” with the values of the EU and the objective of joining the European bloc. .
The United States has called on Tbilisi to respect “freedom of assembly and peaceful protest”, with State Department spokesman Ned Price reiterating Washington’s “concern” about the law.