Around 50,000 protesters marched through central Tbilisi on Saturday at a rally against a controversial foreign influence bill, dubbed "the Russian law", and backed by the Georgian government. Critics say the bill is inspired by a law in Russia that has been used to clamp down on dissent.
Demonstrators converged on Tbilisi's central Europe Square on Saturday evening in the latest of a series of anti-government protests against the draft legislation. Massive rallies have gripped the Black Sea Caucasus country for almost a month after the ruling Georgian Dream party reintroduced the bill.
Under pouring rain, protesters on Saturday chanted "Georgia!" and waved red-and-white Georgian flags and blue EU flags on the large square.
"We are protecting our European future and our freedom," Mariam Meunrgia, 39, who works for a German company, told AFP, adding that she fears the country is going in the direction of Russia.
"We don't need to return to the Soviet Union," said 38-year-old Georgian-language teacher Lela Tsiklauri.
The bill, which would require organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as "agents of foreign influence", has sparked a rolling political crisis and massive protests in Georgia.
Parliament, which is controlled by the Georgian Dream party and its allies, will begin committee hearings on the bill's third and final reading on Monday.
The crisis has pitted the Georgian Dream ruling party against a coalition of opposition parties, civil society, celebrities and the country's figurehead president, with mass demonstrations against "the Russian law" shutting down much of central Tbilisi almost nightly for more than a month.
Saturday's protest came a day after Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said the government would push ahead with the bill despite opposition from what he cast as "misled" youngsters who feel "resentment" towards Russia.
US 'deeply alarmed' over 'Kremlin-style' bill
The US, EU and UN have spoken out against the legislation, with the UN human rights chief Volker Turk also voicing concern about police violence against protesters.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Saturday expressed alarm over Georgia's democratic backsliding.
"We are deeply alarmed about democratic backsliding in Georgia," said Sullivan on X. "Georgian Parliamentarians face a critical choice – whether to support the Georgian people’s EuroAtlantic aspirations or pass a Kremlin-style foreign agents' law that runs counter to democratic values," he said. "We stand with the Georgian people."
The EU, which granted Georgia candidate status in December, has said the bill will pose a serious obstacle to further integration if passed.
'We are not going to stop'
Georgian Dream has defended the bill, saying it will increase transparency over NGOs' foreign funding. It says it aims to sign the measure into law by mid-May.
Last year, mass street protests forced Georgian Dream to drop plans for similar measures, but it then reintroduced the bill.
"This year, the wave of people and the anger is stronger," said 21-year-old student Anri Papidze, wearing a leather jacket and black cap.
"We are not the victims of propaganda. We are not going to stop. We won't be the slaves of the Russian empire."
Another protester, Viktoria Sarjveladze, 46, was wrapped in a Ukrainian flag and said her husband is fighting against Russia there.
She said they "felt angry and betrayed" that the government reintroduced the bill, linking this to a "power struggle before the elections".
"The only serious critical voices left are in the NGO sector and independent media," she said.
Georgia has sought for years to deepen relations with the West, but Georgian Dream has been accused of attempting to steer the country closer to Russia.
The party's honorary chairman, former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, is widely seen as pulling the strings of power from the back seat.
He has nurtured relations with Moscow while also promising a future inside the EU.
Last month in a rare speech, Ivanishvili lashed out at NGOs, calling them a "pseudo-elite nurtured by a foreign country" and blamed Western states – not Russia – for Moscow's 2008 invasion of Georgia and 2022 attack on Ukraine.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)
