Violent clashes in Georgia over ‘foreign influence’ bill opposed by West

Both law enforcement and demonstrators were injured in Tuesday’s incident, the Interior Ministry said. Authorities used water canons and tear gas to disperse protesters, some of whom threw stones and petrol bombs, Reuters reported. People outside parliament chanted, “Russians! Russians!,” according to video shared on social media, in an apparent reference to a 2012 law passed by the Kremlin that was subsequently expanded and used to harass critics.

The bill threatens to jeopardize the former Soviet republic’s application to join the European Union, which raised concerns over the draft law and called it “inconsistent” with European values. The E.U.’s flag was prominently displayed at Tuesday evening’s rally.

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Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili struck a defiant note Tuesday and accused Georgian civil groups of “fighting against state interests” with the help of foreign funding, according to Agenda, an English-language news platform affiliated with the government. He said his administration was still pro-European, but that Georgia had the “sovereign” right to decide on its laws.

Seventy-six of 113 lawmakers voted in support of the bill at its first hearing on Tuesday, according to Agenda. President Salome Zourabichvili, an independent who has been increasingly critical of the ruling Dream party, said she would veto the law if it cleared parliament. But Garibashvili has enough votes to override such a veto, observers said.

Georgia fought a short, disastrous war with Russia in 2008, and Russian troops occupy part of a breakaway territory. Polling suggests most Georgians are pro-West, but some experts say the policies of the Dream party have pushed it away from Brussels.

“On the last few years, and especially over the past 18 months, Georgia’s ruling coalition has made a series of moves that seem designed to distance the country from the West and shift it gradually into Russia’s sphere of influence,” said a December 2022 report published by the European Council on Foreign Relations.

The foreign agent bill will have a “devastating impact” on rights groups in Georgia, said Kelly Degnan, the U.S. ambassador in Tbilisi, adding that “similar legislation in Russia” had silenced the media and dissenting voices.

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“Under the disguise of transparency, the latest statements by the Georgian authorities strongly suggest that if adopted, the law will be weaponized to further stigmatize and penalize independent groups, media and critical voices in the country,” said Giorgi Gogia, associate director for the Europe and Central Asia Division at Human Rights Watch.

Georgia applied to join the European Union against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year. Although candidate status was awarded to applicants such as Moldova and Ukraine, Georgia was told to pursue political reforms.

In recent years, authorities have jailed the pro-American former president Mikheil Saakashvili, in a case European officials describe as politically motivated. Georgia also slipped sharply on a major press freedom index over the past two years.