Georgian lawmakers gave the first green light Wednesday to a controversial “foreign influence” law that has sparked mass street protests over concerns it would undermine Tbilisi’s European aspirations.
The bill, which 83 ruling Georgian Dream party MPs backed after its first reading, has been criticised as mirroring a repressive Russian law on “foreign agents” used there to silence dissent.
Opposition deputies boycotted the vote, and on Monday and Tuesday night thousands took to the streets to protest the draft law.
In chaotic scenes past midnight, Georgian riot police chased demonstrators in the labyrinth of narrow streets near parliament, beating them and making arrests, an AFP journalist saw.
If adopted, the bill would require any independent NGO and media organisation receiving more than 20 percent of funding from abroad to register as an “organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power”.
The proposed measure has sparked a backlash both inside Georgia and in the West.
