police violently repress protests

They had gathered to express their opposition to a bill deemed repressive. A gathering in front of the Georgian Parliament in Tbilisi was violently repressed by the police on the night of Tuesday April 30 to Wednesday May 1. Masked riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets against the crowd, noted an AFP journalist on the scene. MP Levan Khabeishvili, president of the United National Movement of imprisoned ex-president Mikheïl Saakashvili, the main opposition party, was himself violently beaten and had to receive treatment.

Several journalists were also targeted, including an AFP photographer who was hit with a baton even though he was clearly identified as a reporter. Local television channels broadcast images showing his face marked with beatings.

In the early morning, Georgian authorities announced the arrest of 63 people. The Interior Ministry assured that the police had used force in a manner “legitimate” because the demonstration was “became violent”.

The European Union condemns the violence

Georgian Rights Defender Levan Iosseliani has called for an investigation into the use of a “disproportionate force” against demonstrators and journalists. Lhe head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, also “firmly condemned violence” law enforcement, calling on the authorities to “guarantee the right to peaceful assembly“.

These pro-European demonstrators had gathered to express their opposition to this bill on “foreign influence”, which the ruling party hopes to have adopted by mid-May. Voted at first reading by the Georgian Parliament, the controversial text is tearing the country apart: it would require any company or association financed more than 20% by foreigners to register as an organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power. Salomé Nino Zourabishvili, the pro-European president of Georgia, opposed to the ruling party, denounces in particular the Russian influence of the bill.