Georgia’s ruling party has withdrawn a controversial bill from parliament after two nights of protests against the proposed law, which critics say marks a slide towards Russian-style repression.
In a statement on Thursday, Georgian Dream, the party controlled by reclusive billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, and its coalition partners said they would withdraw the bill “unconditionally” after public protests.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tbilisi on Tuesday and Wednesday waving EU, Ukrainian and American flags in what resembled pro-EU demonstrations in Ukraine before Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Georgian protesters chanted “No to Russian law”. Will not return to the USSR”, “Georgia belongs to Europe” and “Ukrainian Slavs” (Glory of Ukraine).
The protests began after a draft “foreign agents” law – apparently inspired by a law of the same name in Russia that President Vladimir Putin has used to crack down on media and non-governmental organizations – passed its first reading in parliament on Tuesday. The bill requires all media and NGOs to register as “foreign agents” if they receive 20 percent of their funding from abroad.
The US and Brussels say the legislation is incompatible with Georgia’s bid to join the EU and NATO.
Every night, the police used water cannons, tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the protests. At least one police car overturned and a total of 133 people have been arrested by law enforcement officers.
“We are here to protect western values and our constitution which states that the Georgian government must take all measures to ensure Georgia’s full integration into the EU and NATO,” said Zurab Tatanashvili, a lecturer at Tbilisi State University, who took part in the protest. “The government chose to go against our western allies. . . . Instead, they took steps that the Kremlin liked.
As a cloud of tear gas rose above Rustaveli Avenue and the sirens went off, a group of young Georgians began to dance. Some handed out roses to police, a nod to the so-called 2003 Rose Revolution that brought pro-western leader Mikheil Saakashvili to power. He is currently imprisoned in Georgia in what lawyers say are inhumane conditions, with the ruling party refusing to transfer him for medical treatment abroad despite calls from Kyiv and western capitals to do so.
Georgian Dream has admitted that the bill has “caused differences of opinion in the community” but blames the “lie machine” for casting in a negative light and misleading the public. He said that the label “Russian law” is false and does not exclude the country from Europe.
President Salome Zourabichvili, who is not a member of Georgian Dream but was supported by the party when she ran for president in 2018, expressed her support for the protesters in a video message recorded in the US in the background of the Statue of Liberty and vowed to veto the law.
Opposition lawmaker Anna Natsvlishvili praised her colleagues for showing “unprecedented unity” and pressured the government to “back off”.
“Georgians have once again spoken and said that Georgia’s future is in Europe, Georgia belongs in the EU, this is our choice,” he said.
The latest opinion polls show that 85 percent of Georgians support EU membership. Anti-Kremlin sentiment is high, as Russia retains control of 20 percent of the country’s territory after a brief war in 2008.