Twenty thousand people took part in a ‘march for Europe’ in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, on Sunday. They are demanding the withdrawal of a bill on ‘foreign influence’ deemed repressive and which the EU has warned would jeopardize the country’s membership.
The text, which has brought thousands of Georgians into the streets since it was tabled in Parliament for the second time in mid-April by the ruling Georgian Dream party, is denounced for its similarity to a law adopted in Russia, which in a few years has made it possible to silence opposition to Vladimir Putin.
It also aroused concern in Brussels, which warned that the adoption of this type of law could destroy Georgia’s chances of joining the EU.
‘March for Europe’
Waving European and Georgian flags, around 20,000 people gathered at Republic Square in central Tbilisi, according to an AFP journalist on site.
The demonstrators then began a kilometer-long ‘march for Europe’ down the city’s main avenue to reach the Georgian Parliament.
‘I am here to defend the future of Georgia,’ said one of the demonstrators, 19-year-old Lacha Tckheidze. ‘No to Russia, no to Russian law, yes to Europe!’, he added. A first attempt to pass this text failed a year ago after a massive mobilization of the opposition.
Sunday’s demonstration was organized at the call of human rights groups and opposition parties, which had until now remained on the sidelines in a fight which mainly mobilized young people.
‘The authorities, who reintroduced the Russian bill, go beyond what the Constitution allows and change the direction given to the country, betraying the unchanging will of the people,’ the organizers wrote in a statement.
‘Incompatible with the European choice’
‘This law, like this government, is incompatible with Georgia’s historic choice to be a member of the European Union,’ Nika Gvaramia, the leader of the opposition Akhali party, told AFP in the manifestation.
Previous demonstrations in recent days were broken up by police in the alleys of the city center, with officers beating and arresting demonstrators.
The ruling party announced it would hold its own protest on Monday, when the text is due for second reading in the Georgian Parliament.
If adopted, this law would notably force any NGO or media receiving more than 20% of its funding from abroad to register administratively as an ‘organization defending the interests of a foreign power’.
Veto
The Georgian president, the former French diplomat Salomé Zourabichvili, in conflict with the ruling party but whose powers are restricted, assured that she would veto the promulgation of this law if necessary.
A former Soviet republic in the Caucasus, Georgia took a pro-Western turn two decades ago, an orientation long supported by former President Mikheïl Saakashvili, now imprisoned. But the party currently in power, Georgian Dream, is accused by the opposition of insidiously bringing the country back towards Moscow.
/ATS
