Georgia’s Parliament passed its new “transparency of foreign influence” bill – also known as the “foreign agents” law – on Tuesday despite mass protests that have rocked the capital, Tbilisi, for the past few weeks. After the bill was passed, thousands of protesters clashed with the police outside the parliament building in the centre of Tbilisi.
The new law was initially proposed by the Georgian Dream party, which has been in power since 2012, last year but was withdrawn following protests against it. The bill was reintroduced in March this year after a new prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, took office, leading to protests throughout April that were met with violent crackdowns and arrests by masked riot police.
