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Police in the former Soviet state of Georgia used tear gas and stun grenades early Wednesday to break up protests outside parliament against a draft law on “foreign agents.”
Reuters witnesses in the capital, Tbilisi, saw police with riot shields making arrests on Rustaveli Avenue, the main road running through the center of the city.
Hours earlier police clashed with protesters, some of whom threw petrol bombs and stones. A crowd then gathered outside parliament, where some people removed light metal barriers to keep the public away from the building.
In a statement, the interior ministry said people on both sides had been injured in the violent protests. The police will respond to violations of the law, he added.
Dozens were arrested
The ministry said 66 people had been detained during the hours-long clashes.
The protests erupted after lawmakers gave initial support to the legislation, which critics say is an authoritarian shift and could damage the country’s bid to join the European Union.
Speaking in Berlin earlier on Tuesday, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili reiterated his support for the law, saying the proposed provisions for foreign agents met “European and global standards.”
But EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the draft law was a “very bad development” for the country and could damage its relationship with the EU.
Thousands of people, some waving EU and Ukrainian flags, stood outside Parliament and listened as speakers denounced the law, which requires organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as “foreign agents” or face heavy fines.
Critics say it is similar to a 2012 law in Russia that has since been used to quell dissent.
‘You represent free Georgia’
President Salome Zourabichvili, who said she would veto the law if it passed her desk, said she was on the side of the protesters.
“You represent a free Georgia, a Georgia that sees the future in the West, and will not let anyone take this future away,” he said in an address recorded in the United States, where he is on an official visit.
Late on Tuesday night, protesters were angered by police armed with riot shields who later used tear gas and water cannons. At least three petrol bombs, as well as stones, were thrown at the police.
Some shouted “No to Russian law” and “You are Russian” at politicians inside the legislature.
Russia is considered an enemy by many Georgians, after Moscow backed separatists in the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the 1990s.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States is deeply concerned and concerned about legislation that “will attack some of the rights that are central to the aspirations of the citizens of Georgia.”
Georgia’s opposition parties called for fresh protests on Wednesday, a public holiday in Georgia to mark International Women’s Day, with many expected to gather outside parliament.
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