Protesters gather at parliament as legal affairs committee set to discuss foreign agents bills

Protests and opposition members are now gathering in front of the Georgian parliament building in central Tbilisi amid discussions of the controversial foreign agents bills by the legal affairs committee. 

 

The session comes amid large-scale protests around two bills proposed by former members of the ruling Georgian Dream party that envisages the registration of domestic NGOs and media organizations which receive more than 20 percent of their incomes from abroad. 

 

The international community and domestic organizations, as well as the EU, UN and the US have condemned the bills as a “Russian law” that was expected to “stigmatize and restrict” the activities of domestic entities that are being funded by foreign donors “to help other Georgians”. 

 

Ana Tsitlidze, a member of the United National Movement opposition party, on Monday said the parliament building had been “ full with law enforcement officers,” as the GD backs the initiatives as “democratic”. 

 

“The government that needs protection from its own people is not the government”, Tsitlidze wrote. 

 

The bills have already been approved by defence and foreign affairs committees last week amid protests, with the ruling party officials claiming they would wait for the opinion of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe before voting on the bills. 

 

The GD claims the bills “are only about transparency”, with one of the the two draft laws “based on the US legislation”. 

 

The People’s Power movement that was created by former members of the GD last year who still remain in the parliamentary majority have been criticizIng the west and the US for backing “anti-Georgian efforts” and accusing them of taking actions to “drag Georgia” into the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. 

 

The domestic opposition says the movement is an “integral part” of the GD that “voices” the current government’s “anti-western sentiments”.