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Georgia: massive mobilizations against the bill on foreign influence
The mobilizations continue in Georgia, Thursday April 18, against a very controversial bill adopted the day before despite the opposition’s boycott. Deemed liberticidal, the bill would be a carbon copy of a Russian law according to the demonstrators.
(franceinfo)
The mobilizations continue in Georgia, Thursday April 18, against a very controversial bill adopted the day before despite the opposition’s boycott. Deemed liberticidal, the bill would be a carbon copy of a Russian law according to the demonstrators.
A few hundred police officers facing 20,000 demonstrators. In front of the doors of Parliament in Tbilisi, Georgia, on the evening of Wednesday April 17, the crowd is compact and determined to bury the bill on foreign influence. Adopted a few minutes earlier at first reading by Parliament, the text has been tearing the country apart for several months. Tuesday April 16, in the hemicycle, a pro-European opposition MP violently hit his colleague from the pro-Russian majority in the face.
A pro-Russian influence
The law on foreign influence could require any company or association financed more than 20% by foreigners to register as “organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power”. The government, which initiated the project, ensures that it would provide more transparency in the financing of organizations. Conversely, protesters fear that it could become a tool of repression against NGOs and independent media, which could push Georgia away from entry into the European Union. The country is plagued by strong Russian influence. Two other readings must still follow for the text to be adopted.
