Protesters demand that Parliament withdraw the new foreign influence law. Georgian football team players support protesters’ European aspirations on social media.
Hundreds of protesters protesting against the law on transparency of foreign influence, known as the foreign agents law, caused traffic to collapse in Tbilisi on Thursday after blocking Heroes’ Square.
The protesters, who demand that Parliament withdraw the new law, approved the day before in second reading, moved from Rustaveli Avenue to the intersection of Heroes’ Square and interrupted traffic to the airport, the train station and other arteries. crucial.
Georgian Parliament approves “foreign influence law” at the origin of three weeks of protests
The detractors of the controversial law, who equated it with that existing in Russia, only allowed the passage of ambulances.
Get out of the cars! We must stop Russia from taking control of Georgia! “No to the Russian law!” the protesters shouted at the drivers, many of whom expressed their discomfort at these actions, reports the EFE agency.
In a failed attempt to unblock traffic, police detained a dozen protesters, according to the Rustavi-2 television channel.
Kakha Kaladze, president of the capital’s municipality and general secretary of the Georgian Dream government party, criticized that “the radicals intend to destabilize” the city and must answer to justice.
The mayor and former AC Milan footballer suggested similarities between what is happening in Georgia and the Euromaidan uprising in Ukraine in 2014, when opponents of the then Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, accused him of having been instrumentalized by Moscow and forced him not to flee. from the country.
In the previous days, tens of thousands of demonstrators had already gathered in front of parliament to protest. On Tuesday, police dispersed the crowd with tear gas Is rubber bullets and done approximately 60 arrests.
If passed, the law would require any non-governmental organization or media entity that receives more than 20% of its funds from abroad to register as “organization that follows the interests of a foreign power“.
The Government states, in turn, that this measure aims to force organizations to demonstrate greater transparency regarding their financing.
An early version of the text was abandoned last year after large-scale street protests.
Meanwhile, footballers from the Georgian national team, whose prestige has grown considerably after qualifying for Euro 2024, joined the protests to support the country’s European aspirations.
“No to Russia! Georgia’s path is towards Europe“Giorgi Kochorashvili, from the Spanish Levante club, wrote on Instagram, supported by Giorgi Chakvetadze, from the British Watford, who demanded “eliminate the law to return to normality.”
Source: Observadora
