Protest in Parliament of Georgia against "Russian law". Video

Protest in Georgian parliament

Before a discussion of the “law on foreign agents” by the Georgian parliament, representatives of the media, non-governmental and civil sectors staged a protest in the parliament.

They protested the “Russian law” both at the entrance to the parliament building and in the building itself, at the entrance to the hall of committees. Discussion of both versions of the law was to begin at a joint meeting of the committees on foreign relations and defense, and, as is known, the bill will be adopted in the first reading at a meeting of parliament, after which it will be sent to the Venice Commission for consideration.

Deputies of Georgian Dream were forced to enter the hall to shouting and whistles.

The protesters argue that this law will alienate Georgia from Europe and prevent it from obtaining the status of EU candidate.

“Exactly one year ago, the ruling party in this hall abolished the state inspectorate, and today we see that it is trying to abolish the non-state sector and the media and interfere with their work. I came here because, as a citizen of this country, what’s happening pains me, and I want to live in a country that is moving towards the European Union,” former state inspector Londa Toloraya said.

According to Salome Samadashvili, a member of the Lelo for Georgia party, the consideration of these bills by the committee can “pass in silence.”

“Our task is to prevent the meeting from taking place. But this does not mean that the Russian occupation regime will not convene a secret meeting of the committee, for example late in the evening. They can easily hold a committee meeting to sign this bill, but our task now is to prevent the meeting from being held,” Samadashvili says.

Video: Tamar Gvaramadze

The Georgian government intends to pass a law according to which those non-governmental and media organizations that are funded from abroad must be registered as “agents of foreign influence.”

As of February 27, two bills have been registered in Parliament: one was registered on February 14 and is similar to Russian law; the second was registered as an alternative after the first was heavily criticized. This second law, according to its authors, is similar to the American law (FARA), claiming they simply copied the latter.

The authors of both bills are the People’s Power movement, formed by deputies who formally separated from the ruling team. “People’s power” is characterized by harsh anti-Western statements. Moreover, its members directly admit that this party was created in order to “tell people the truth about the West, which is trying to drag Georgia into the war.”

The bill is criticized by everyone except the ruling party: the local non-governmental and media sector, the opposition, experts and those politicians who were recently in power from the Georgian Dream and even the President of Georgia.

The bill is sharply criticized by Georgia’s western partners from various international organizations, American senators and European deputies. The American ambassador bluntly called it “Russian law.”