Dozens arrested in Georgia during a protest against a law inspired by Russia

At least 63 people were arrested on Tuesday night in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, during a new day of massive protests in the country against the so-called foreign agents law – of Russian inspiration -, which lasted for nearly six hours. and in which six police officers were also injured. This Wednesday the police used force again to disperse thousands of people who had gathered again in front of Parliament to protest the approval in second reading that the norm had received. Security forces used tear gas and stun grenades against the demonstration, in which some 40,000 people participated, according to Reuters.

“Protest participants threw heavy objects, including bottles and stones, at officers,” Georgian Interior Minister Alexandr Darajvelidze said at a press conference about Tuesday night’s demonstrations. Several human rights organizations, however, accused the police of using “illegitimate and disproportionate” force. “The special forces (of the police) beat and attacked the participants in the demonstration, including young people, women, journalists and opposition politicians,” these associations denounced in a joint statement. The protesters tried to block the legislative headquarters, heavily guarded by riot forces, who resorted to the use of tear gas to disperse the opponents. “No to the Russian law!”, “Georgia!” chanted those gathered, who threw eggs at the police officers.

Among those injured that day is Leván Jabeishveli, leader of the main opposition force, the United National Movement. The Georgian police assure that Jabeishveli, who had to receive medical attention along with another colleague from his party who was also beaten by the officers, tried to get around a police cordon in the middle of the demonstration and resisted the law enforcement officers. This Wednesday, the politician went to Parliament with bandages, broken bones in his face and four missing teeth.

The protests coincide with the parliamentary debate and vote on the Foreign Agents Law, a controversial text that the Government of the populist Georgian Dream party already refused to approve last year after the immense mobilizations against it, but which it has now recovered again. On April 17, the majority of Georgian Dream and its parliamentary partners allowed approval in first reading. This Wednesday, the norm has again obtained 83 votes in favor compared to 23 against in the second reading after a day of debates that is being angry, with physical and verbal confrontations, and the expulsion from the chamber of four opposition deputies. After this vote, there would still be a third vote in the coming weeks, and the ratification of the president, Salomé Zurabishvili, one of the law’s biggest detractors, who, in all likelihood, will send the text back to Parliament.

Opponents denounce that the law promoted by the Government is a copy of the regulations used in Russia to repress dissent. According to the text, any organization that receives more than 20% of its financing from abroad must register as an “agent of the interests of a foreign power” and the Georgian Ministry of Justice will carry out inspections on them every six months, which which, according to critics, could force the handover of documents, internal and confidential communications.

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This would be a serious blow to numerous projects, from agricultural development to women’s programs, financed with money from the EU or the United States. But, above all, it is seen as a direct attack on the political and human rights organizations that monitor power and that, given that the opposition is divided and weakened, have become the main obstacle for a party that has gone, little little by little, taking a good part of the State institutions under its control.

EU candidate country

The European Union has asked Georgia this Wednesday to respect the right of peaceful assembly and not use force against the demonstrators who protested in Tbilisi on Tuesday night against the approval of the so-called “Russian law.” The high representative of foreign policy of the EU, Josep Borrell, has written on his X profile (formerly Twitter): “Georgia is a candidate country for the EU, I ask its authorities to guarantee the right of peaceful assembly. The use of force to suppress it is unacceptable.” The President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also urged to stay on the European path: “The citizens of Georgia are demonstrating their strong attachment to democracy. The Georgian government should heed this clear message,” she said in a statement.

The Director General of the European Commission in charge of enlargement negotiations, Gert Jan Koopman, plans to travel to Georgia this Wednesday to meet with the Government, the president, as well as members of civil society. In the EU there is great disappointment at the turnaround made by the Georgian Government after the accolade of receiving accession candidate status last December. Despite this, the Georgian Dream Executive has taken measures contrary to the community spirit, such as the elimination of quotas that guaranteed more equal representation of women on political party lists or the maintenance of its crusade against the “discourse of gender” and the LGTBI community.

At the same time, this Monday, government supporters gathered in Tbilisi tens of thousands of people brought in buses from all over the country in support of the official policy. In this demonstration, the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of Georgian Dream and considered its true shadow leader, harshly attacked the EU and the US, whom he accused of all the country’s ills. “Foreign agents still seek to restore a cruel dictatorship in Georgia, but Georgian Dream will not allow it and will advocate a mode of government chosen at the polls, not appointed from abroad,” Ivanishvili said, accusing the “party of global war.” ―in reference to the West― of exacerbating the conflict in Ukraine and the enmity between Georgia and Russia, a country where the billionaire has interests.

Russia still maintains control in fact of two separatist regions of Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, since the brief war of 2008, so it is not a country viewed favorably by a large part of the population.