The pro-European fever is not abating in this Caucasian country. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets Thursday evening in Georgia to once again protest against the controversial “foreign influence” bill wanted by the government but criticized by the United States and the European Union.
The country has been plagued by anti-government protests since April 9, after the ruling Georgian Dream party reintroduced this text, seen as an obstacle to Tbilisi’s aspirations to join the EU.
Unlike previous days, the rally takes place on Thursday in two different places: in front of the Parliament, a traditional place for demonstrations, and on Heroes’ Square, where a monument in memory of Georgian soldiers who died in combat stands. The demonstrators blocked the road leading to this square and the police arrested several of them and used pepper spray, as the day before.
As a sign of solidarity with those arrested, the demonstrators in front of Parliament marched towards Heroes’ Square. The protesters chanted “No to Russia!” » and posted signs with the faces of deputies from the ruling Georgian Dream party, described as “traitors”.
This bill, adopted on second reading on Wednesday, is inspired by Russian legislation used for years by the Kremlin to persecute dissenting voices. Critics of the text accuse the government of playing into Russia’s hands. “We are all together to show the Kremlin puppets that we will not accept the government that goes against the will of the Georgian people,” said one of the demonstrators, Giorgi Loladze, 27, from Kutaisi. , Georgia’s third largest city.
In the previous days, tens of thousands of demonstrators had already gathered in front of Parliament to protest. On Tuesday, police dispersed the crowd with tear gas and rubber bullets and made around sixty arrests.
European ambitions
If passed, the law would require any NGO or media organization receiving more than 20 percent of its funding from abroad to register as an “organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power.” The government assures for its part that this measure is intended to force organizations to demonstrate greater “transparency” about their funding.
The text was criticized by the West, with the United States saying on Thursday that it was “deeply concerned” by “the consequences it could have in terms of stifling dissent and freedom of expression”. “We would not like to see anything move forward from a legislative standpoint that (…) would make it more difficult for the Georgian people to express themselves,” said John Kirby, spokesman for the Georgian National Security Council. American executive.
France, reiterating its “deep concern”, condemned the repression of demonstrations and “to ensure respect for the right to demonstrate peacefully as well as freedom of the press”. She considered that the text went “against the values on which the European Union is founded and to which the Georgian people have shown their deep attachment”.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, asked for the “withdrawal” of the bill and urged the Georgian authorities to “engage in dialogue, particularly with civil society and the media”. On Wednesday, the European Union condemned the “violence” of the police and called on Georgia to “stay the course” towards the EU.
In December, the EU granted Georgia official candidate status, but said Tbilisi should carry out reforms to its judicial and electoral systems, increase press freedom and limit the power of oligarchs before accession negotiations are officially launched. A first version of the text was abandoned last year after large-scale street protests.
These unrest comes a few months before legislative elections in October, considered an important test for democracy in this former Soviet republic accustomed to political crises.
