Masked men – members of the security forces – have clashed with protesters in Georgia as a political crisis over the country’s “foreign agents” bill continues.
The proposed legislation is seen by some as threatening press and civic freedoms and there are concerns it’s modelled on laws used by Vladimir Putin in neighbouring Russia.
Huge protests have engulfed the country ahead of the final reading of the bill in Georgia’s parliament on Tuesday. So what’s the crisis all about?
‘The Russian law’
The proposed law would require media and nongovernmental organisations and other nonprofits to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of funding from abroad.
According to the governing party, Georgian Dream, the legislation is necessary to stem what it deems as harmful foreign influence over the country’s political scene.
But the opposition has denounced it as “the Russian law” because Moscow uses similar legislation to stigmatise independent news media and organisations critical of the Kremlin.
Opponents say the bill is a sign of Moscow’s apparent influence over Georgia and will make joining the EU harder.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who is increasingly at odds with the governing party, has vowed to veto the law, but Georgian Dream has a majority sufficient to override a presidential veto.
Protesters in Tbilisi, Georgia
Huge protests on the streets of Tbilisi
The bill has sparked a series of demonstrations in the Georgian capital. Police have scuffled with protesters and have used tear gas and water cannons to disperse crowds.
On Saturday, a crowd marched through Europe Square in Tbilisi, many wrapped in Georgian and European Union flags and chanting “Georgia!”
On Sunday, protesters gathered in front of parliament for an overnight rally and tried to block entrances into the building, where a committee of lawmakers were expected to discuss the bill once again on Monday.
Sky News’ Dominic Waghorn was on the ground and witnessed the moment when Georgian security forces moved in and kettled the protesters.
By Monday morning, only hundreds remained near parliament. Georgia’s Interior Ministry said 20 people were arrested in the morning, including three foreign citizens – two Americans and a Russian.
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Police clear protesters in Georgia
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Opposition leader ‘beaten up’
Earlier this month, Georgian television showed Levan Khabeishvili, chairman of the pro-West United National Movement party, arriving in parliament with bandages on his nose and forehead.
Members of his party said that he had been assaulted by police during the protests. Purple bruising and cuts were visible around Mr Khabeishvili’s left eye as he urged fellow lawmakers to scrap the bill.
“If you are not interested in how the leader of the main opposition party has been beaten up, then – for the sake of those young people who were injured, who were hit on the heads and bruised – I want to ask you once more, even though I do not have any hope, withdraw this law,” he said.
Deputy interior minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze alleged that Mr Khabeishvili broke through a police cordon the night before and was injured while he “resisted”.
Bidzina Ivanishvili spoke out in support of the bill. Pic: Reuters
Who is Bidzina Ivanishvili?
Much attention is being paid to the role of Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire who made his fortune along with the other Russian oligarchs during the fall of the Soviet Union.
He founded Georgia’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, and served as the country’s prime minister between 2012 and 2013.
Addressing a pro-government rally last month, he spoke in support of the bill and accused a Western “global party of war” of meddling in Georgia.
He said Georgia and Ukraine had been treated as “cannon fodder” by Western countries, whose intelligence agencies he accused of political interference in the country.
