Sixty-three pro-European demonstrators were arrested on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday May 1 during a rally, violently repressed by the police, against a bill on “foreign influence” that its detractors consider similar to a Russian legislation used against the opposition, according to the Georgian Interior Ministry.
The Caucasian country has been plagued since April 9 by demonstrations against this bill reintroduced at the initiative of the Georgian Dream, the ruling party, and considered contrary to Tbilisi’s aspirations to join the European Union (EU).
Masked police officers used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the demonstrators, noted a journalist from Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Several journalists were targeted, including an AFP photographer, beaten with a baton even though he was clearly identified as a reporter. MP Levan Khabeishvili, president of the United National Movement of imprisoned ex-president Mikheïl Saakashvili, the main opposition party, was also violently beaten and had to receive treatment. Local television channels broadcast images showing his swollen face.
The Interior Ministry assured that the police had used “legitimate” force because the demonstration had “become violent” and indicated that 63 people had been arrested for having “disobeyed the police” and committed acts of violence. vandalism.
President Salomé Zourabichvili, opposed to the ruling party, condemned the “repression of peaceful assembly” and the “disproportionate use of force”. Rights defender Levan Iosseliani, for his part, called for an investigation to be opened.
For his part, the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, “strongly condemned” on Wednesday the “violence” of the police, calling on the authorities to “guarantee the right of peaceful assembly”.
Protesters blocked traffic in front of Parliament on Tbilisi’s main thoroughfare, as well as on several other major roads. “We will not let them pass this Russian law and bury our European future,” Natia Gabissonia, a 21-year-old protester, told AFP on Tuesday evening.
Early Wednesday morning, protesters set up barricades in front of the Parliament building after riot police left. Around 10 a.m. (8 a.m. in Paris), the demonstration was over, but was expected to resume in the evening.
Second reading
Georgian MPs debated on Tuesday the second reading of the bill that the ruling party hopes to pass by mid-May.
The text must undergo three readings in Parliament and be ratified by the presidency. The Georgian president is expected to veto, but the ruling party has enough seats in parliament to override it.
Critics say the plan mimics Russia’s “foreign agents” law used to stifle dissenting voices. The President of the European Council Charles Michel considered that the text was not compatible with Georgia’s wish to join the EU.
Protests also took place in Batumi, Georgia’s second city, and Kutaisi, according to the private channel Formula TV. On Monday, several thousand people took part in a counter-demonstration organized in front of Parliament by the Georgian Dream.
Influential billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, chairman of the ruling party, who is considered the country’s de facto leader, addressed the crowd on Monday. The bill aims, according to him, to strengthen transparency on foreign financing of associations, “Non-transparent financing of NGOs is the main instrument for the appointment of a Georgian government from abroad”, he said. -he declares.
In the spring of 2023, the ruling party had to abandon a first attempt to pass the law, after massive protests.
Several Georgian governments have sought to bring Georgia closer to Western powers, but the current ruling party has been accused of wanting to bring this former Soviet republic back into Russia’s orbit. In December, the EU granted him official candidate status, while calling for continued reforms. Georgia’s candidacy for the EU and NATO is enshrined in its Constitution and, according to polls, the population is overwhelmingly in favor.
