Agent Law of Georgia | On the streets of Tbilisi, thousands of protesters, opponents of the agent law were arrested

GeorgiaN on Tuesday, the parliament approved the government’s controversial bill against foreign influence.

A large number of protesters and police had gathered outside the parliament building in Tbilisi during the vote. According to AFP, there are still thousands of people on the streets.

Demonstrators reportedly clashed with riot police outside the parliament building. According to the country’s interior minister, 13 protesters have been arrested after they resisted police orders.

the BBC interviewed eyewitnesses accuse the police of violent treatment of demonstrators. According to the Georgian authorities, almost all those arrested in front of the parliament building have said that they were subjected to degrading treatment. Published by the BBC on video you can see how the police are arresting the protesters.

Prime minister of the country Irakli Kobakhidze has praised the actions of the riot police, saying they are operating in a way that exceeds “American and European standards”. Kobakhidze supports the agent law approved by Parliament on Tuesday.

Voting was preceded by a long session, in which emotions heated up from time to time into fights between MPs.

According to the law pushed by the Georgian Dream coalition party, which is the majority in the parliament, media and non-governmental organizations that receive more than a fifth of their funding from outside Georgia must register as promoters of foreign interests.

The law has been titled “agent law”.

Georgian A pro-EU and pro-democracy president Salome Zurabishvili has said he will not strengthen the controversial law. It will likely only delay the process, as parliament can override the president’s veto with a simple majority.

A veto would probably buy the opposition more time to demonstrate that the people are not on the side of the law, evaluate Senior researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute Margarita Zavadskaya for HS on Monday.

Prime Minister Kobakhidze said on Monday that the bill will be approved.

He threatened that Georgia could “easily suffer the fate of Ukraine” if the authorities gave in. It was not immediately clear what the prime minister meant by this statement.

The law has been described as inspired by Russia. In Russia, a similar but stricter law than the Georgian law has been used to silence dissidents and independent media.

There has been strong opposition to the bill since April. According to opponents of the motion, the law is intended to silence the opposition and its purpose is to bring Georgia back into Russia’s sphere of influence.

President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen and in charge of the EU’s external relations Josep Borrell are in the past have saidthat the entry into force of the law may make it difficult for Georgia to start EU membership negotiations.

Politico– online newspaper, the EU has prepared a joint statement against the Georgian bill, but agreement on wording has been held up by the opposition of Hungary and Slovakia, which supports it.

On Monday, the United States urged the Georgian leadership to stay on the path leading to EU membership and reminded that the disputed bill leads in the opposite direction.