Dozens of Georgians demonstrated through the city, of Tbilisi, in protest of a bill on “foreign agents” that the opposition and Western countries call autocratic and Russian-inspired.
Georgia’s parliament has announced that the measure will be read a second time on Tuesday, with opposition parties and civil society groups calling for widespread protests against its expected ratification.
If implemented, the proposed rule would require organizations that receive more than 20% of their financing from abroad to register as “foreign agents” or face fines.
The EU and Western countries have warned that the measure could jeopardize Georgia’s integration into the EU, which granted Georgia candidate status in December.
To become law, the bill must pass three readings in parliament and overcome a veto from Georgia’s figurehead president, who is opposed to it.
For more than a week, groups opposed to the measure have demonstrated nightly outside parliament, after the assembly, controlled by the ruling Georgian Dream party, approved its first reading.
Thousands of student demonstrators have blocked Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue, clashing with riot police.
Opponents of the law, who organized the enormous rallies on Sunday, have called for protests against its second reading on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze criticized Western politicians and diplomats for “slandering” the bill, which will only “boost transparency of NGO’s foreign funding in accordance with European values.”
He accused Georgian civil groups of trying to stage revolutions “at least twice in the last three years” with Western funding.
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