Zelensky Calls For 'Democratic Success' As 'Russian-Inspired' Foreign Agents Law Triggers Protests In Georgia
Lawmakers passed a first reading of the legislation, which requires any organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from overseas to register as "foreign agents" or face substantial fines.
New Delhi: A day after protestors threw petrol bombs and stones at police in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, the police on late Wednesday used tear gas, water cannon, and stun grenades in an attempt to push back the protestors, rallying outside parliament against a "foreign agents" law which critics say signals an authoritarian shift, Reuters reported.
On Tuesday, lawmakers passed a first reading of the legislation, which requires any organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from overseas to register as "foreign agents" or face substantial fines.
The protestors fear 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 as the critics said that the new law is reminiscent of a 2012 law in Russia that has since been used to crack down on dissent.
"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.
Thousands 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.
"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," said 33-year-old software engineer Vakhtang Berikashvili, 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.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who wants to veto the law it if crosses her desk, said she was on the side of the protesters.
"You represent a free Georgia, a Georgia which sees its future in the West, and won't let anyone to take this future away," she said in an address recorded in the United States, where she is on an official visit.
"Nobody needs this law ... everyone who has voted for this law has violated the constitution," she added.
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".
(With agency inputs)
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