Pro-Russian Alt-Info burns Georgian parliament’s EU flag

Members of the pro-Russian Conservative movement, widely known as Alt-Info, on Tuesday burnt the European Union flag erected in front of the Georgian parliament building, following the legislative body’s rejection of the foreign agents bill last week that was cited as a “Russian law” by the international community. 

The ruling Georgian Dream party was forced to recall the bill proposed by its former members, who still remain in the parliament majority, amid large-scale protests in the Georgian capital. 

The Alt-Info members have demanded the referendum on the bill, as well as the release of the individuals detained for violence against journalists during Tbilisi Pride events last year, as well as  the “severe punishment” of those “who want a coup” in the country. 

The Georgian Dream officials and the prime minister have accused the United National Movement opposition party and the country’s foreign partners, including European and the US diplomatic missions, of inciting the rallies over the draft law. 

They claimed the public had been “misled” over the bill that envisaged the registration of domestic NGOs and media organizations as foreign agents if they derived more than 20 percent of their incomes from abroad, without specifying allied and hostile states.