On March 7 and 8, hundreds of Georgians gathered in the streets of the capital of the European country in order to protest against a bill that, if approved, would have endangered the freedom of the press and the functions of various NGOs in the country.
The “foreign agents” proposal, according to the British chain BBC, required all non-governmental organizations and media outlets that receive at least 20 percent of their funding from abroad to submit an annual financial statement. Now, part of the problem was that, failing to do so, the proposal stipulated that said lack would result in a fine of 9,500 dollars (approximately 45 million Colombian pesos).
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This project has several similarities with a legislation approved by Vladimir Putin in 2020, which declared that the Government could name as a “foreign agent” natural persons and social organizations that receive income from abroad.
This includes foreign journalists who carry out political activities or, according to the statement promulgated at the time, “that are incompatible with their professional activity”.
Faced with this, citizens and critics raised their voices arguing that if the project were approved, the right to freedom of expression would be violated. Likewise, the events occurred in the midst of a political rupture generated by the internal polarization of the country with respect to the war in Ukraine, since many Georgians opposed their nation not taking a clear party.
Government withdraws its bill
After two days of intense protests, the government finally decided to withdraw its proposal.
“First of all we must take care of the peace, tranquility and economic development of Georgia, the advancement of Georgia on the path of European integration. For this reason, as responsible forces we have decided to unconditionally withdraw the bill”, announced the People’s Force movement and the ruling Georgian Dream party, groups that had put the bill on the table.
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Likewise, they assured that the public had not really understood the purpose of the legislation, which is why they will hope to clarify what their initiative was about soon.
On the other hand, there is still concern and controversy due to the 130 demonstrators arrested and the 60 policemen injured in the clashes with the security forces.
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