There have been renewed pro-European protests in Georgia. There were clashes between demonstrators and the police in front of parliament. The protests are directed against a planned law that would reveal foreign influences on civil society.
Thousands of pro-European demonstrators protested in the South Caucasus republic of Georgia for the second day in a row against a planned law to control foreign influence. In the capital Tbilisi, there were scuffles between protesters and the police in front of parliament, where the bill was debated in the first of three readings. Georgian media reported that security forces used pepper spray. As with the protests on Monday, there were also arrests. The Interior Ministry reported that a police officer was injured.
The project, which has been criticized as a “Russian law,” requires non-governmental organizations that receive money from abroad to disclose these financial sources. According to its own statements, the Georgian government wants to ensure more transparency and control the extent of foreign influence more closely. Many civil society and democracy promotion projects in Georgia are financed by the West, including money from the EU and the USA.
Criticism from the opposition and the EU
However, critics fear that such a Russian-style law could be misused to stop these flows of money and politically persecute pro-Western forces. The pro-European Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, who is at odds with the national-conservative government, criticized the fact that the draft law was being stuck to despite the protests. It is a provocation. This plays into the hands of the Russian strategy of destabilizing Georgia, she said.
EU Council President Charles Michel recalled that Georgia received candidate status for accession to the European Union last December and that this law was incompatible with that. The initiative will move Georgia further away from the EU rather than bring it closer, he wrote on the social network X.
Government does not want to withdraw law
In contrast, the ruling Georgian Dream party rejected the criticism and emphasized that it was a law in the country’s interest. Despite appeals from EU states, including Germany, the draft will not be withdrawn, it said. In 2023, the Georgian leadership withdrew such a law after massive street protests.