Georgia Withdraws 'Foreign Agents' Bill After Massive Protests

After two nights of violent protests, Georgia's ruling party on Thursday said that it was dropping a bill on "foreign agents" amid criticism that the draft was inspired by a Russian law.

Georgia withdrew 'Foreign Agents' bill that triggered massive protests in the country.

Source : Getty

New Delhi: After two nights of violent protests, Georgia's ruling party on Thursday said that it was dropping a bill on "foreign agents" amid criticism that the draft was inspired by a Russian law and represented an authoritarian shift.

The Georgian Dream ruling party said in a statement it would "unconditionally withdraw the bill we supported without any reservations". It cited the need to reduce "confrontation" in society.

The draft law requires any organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from overseas to register as "foreign agents" or face substantial fines.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Parliament gave it initial approval, but thousands of protestors gathered in front of parliament, carrying Georgian and European Union flags and shouting "No to the Russian law" and "You are Russian" at politicians inside the legislature.

The protestors feared that the draft law would limit press freedom and could hurt Georgia's hopes of European Union membership.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday called for "democratic success" in Georgia after the bill triggered massive protests in the country.

"There is no Ukrainian who would not wish success to our friendly Georgia. Democratic success. European success," Zelensky said in his evening address to the nation. 

Vakhtang Berikashvili, a 33-year-old software engineer, said, "We cannot let our country become pro-Russian or a Russian state, or undemocratic. We don't have any other choice: Georgia is either democratic or there is no Georgia. We will win," according to AFP.

According to Reuters, Russia is viewed as an enemy by many Georgians, after Moscow backed separatists in the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the 1990s. Hundreds of thousands of Georgians remain internally displaced within the country after several bouts of bloody ethnic conflict.

Speaking in Berlin earlier on Tuesday, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Garibashvili reaffirmed his support for the law, saying the proposed provisions on foreign agents met "European and global standards".