At least 66 people were detained by the Georgian police during protests in the capital Tbilisi against a controversial bill directed against the ‘media’ and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), the country’s authorities reported on Wednesday.
In a statement, quoted by the Russian news agency Interfax, the Georgian Ministry of the Interior added that “almost 50 policemen” were injured during these protests, dispersed with tear gas and water cannons.
Thousands of people demonstrated this Tuesday in Georgia against a controversial bill on “foreign agents”, denounced by the opposition as a tool of intimidation against the ‘media’ and NGOs.
Police used tear gas and water cannons against protesters who gathered in front of parliament after deputies approved the bill, according to footage from independent station Pireli TV.
During the largely peaceful demonstration, at least one protester threw a ‘Molotov cocktail’ at a cordon of riot police, according to the same source.
Demonstrators were protesting against this law, which requires organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “foreign agents”, on pain of fines.
This text recalls a similar law passed in Russia in 2012 and which the Kremlin has widely used to repress the media, opposition organizations or simple critical voices.
The president of Georgia, Salomé Zurabishvili, said, in statements to television, that she is “with” the protesters.
“Free Georgia sees its future in Europe and will not let anyone steal that future from it,” he stressed, calling for the law to be “repealed” and vowing to veto it.
However, this veto can be overridden by the ruling party, which controls more than half the seats in Parliament.
Georgia, a small former Soviet republic in the Caucasus, has ambitions to join the European Union and NATO, but several recent government moves have cast a shadow over these aspirations and raised questions about its ties to the Kremlin.
Source: TSF
