US alarmed, 50,000 people protest Georgia’s foreign representation law – vopbuzz
TBILISI: Nearly 50,000 opponents of the “foreign agents” bill marched peacefully in Georgia’s capital in heavy rain on Saturday, after the United States said the country had to choose between “Kremlin-style” legislation and the people’s law. Euro-Atlantic aspirations.
“We are deeply concerned about this.” democratic decline inside GeorgiaWhite House national security advisor Jake Sullivan wrote to X.
“Georgian Parliamentarians face a critical choice to support the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of the Georgian people or pass a Kremlin-style foreign agents law that runs counter to democratic values,” he said. “We stand with the Georgian people.”
The bill, which would require organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as “agents of foreign influence,” has sparked a sustained political crisis in Georgia, where thousands of people took to the streets to demand the bill’s withdrawal. .
On Saturday the crowd waved in Georgian, European Union and some Ukrainian flags, in a break from the past, included older protesters as well as scores of young people who filled the streets last month.
“The government must listen to the free people of Georgia,” said a protester in his 30s who gave his name as Nino, waving a large Georgian flag and leading one of three columns that converged on the city center and blocked most of the city’s roads. and filled the cobblestone heart of Tbilisi’s old town.
“We want to enter the European Union with our proud nation and dignity,” he said.
Anuki, a 22-year-old acting student, said: “It is the responsibility of his generation to make sure that our future and the future of the generations after us are safe, that they have freedom of expression and that they are basically free.”
“And we don’t want to be part of Russia,” he added. “We never wanted to be part of Russia. It has always been our goal to be part of Europe and it always will be.”
Parliament controlled by the government Georgian Dream party and its allies will begin committee hearings on the bill’s third and final reading on Monday. Opposition groups had called for a new wave of protests starting on Saturday.
The crisis pitted the Georgian Dream ruling party against a coalition of opposition parties, civil society, celebrities and the country’s puppet president; mass demonstrations shut down much of central Tbilisi almost every night for more than a month.
Georgian opponents of the bill called it a “Russian law”, comparing it to legislation targeting critics of President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin.
The European Union, which gave Georgia candidate status in December, said the bill, if passed, would pose a serious obstacle to further integration.
Georgian Dream says the bill will promote transparency and Georgia’s national sovereignty.
Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili said the law was needed to stop the West trying to use Georgians as “cannon fodder” in the conflict with Russia.
Although both the ruling party and Georgian public opinion have traditionally been in favor of the country joining the EU and the US-led NATO military alliance, Georgian Dream appears to be deliberately trying to break away from the West, Sullivan said.
“Georgian Dream’s recent rhetoric, proposed legislative changes, and actions are contrary to the wishes of the Georgian people and are designed to isolate Georgians from the United States and Europe,” Sullivan wrote.
“We are deeply concerned about this.” democratic decline inside GeorgiaWhite House national security advisor Jake Sullivan wrote to X.
“Georgian Parliamentarians face a critical choice to support the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of the Georgian people or pass a Kremlin-style foreign agents law that runs counter to democratic values,” he said. “We stand with the Georgian people.”
The bill, which would require organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as “agents of foreign influence,” has sparked a sustained political crisis in Georgia, where thousands of people took to the streets to demand the bill’s withdrawal. .
On Saturday the crowd waved in Georgian, European Union and some Ukrainian flags, in a break from the past, included older protesters as well as scores of young people who filled the streets last month.
“The government must listen to the free people of Georgia,” said a protester in his 30s who gave his name as Nino, waving a large Georgian flag and leading one of three columns that converged on the city center and blocked most of the city’s roads. and filled the cobblestone heart of Tbilisi’s old town.
“We want to enter the European Union with our proud nation and dignity,” he said.
Anuki, a 22-year-old acting student, said: “It is the responsibility of his generation to make sure that our future and the future of the generations after us are safe, that they have freedom of expression and that they are basically free.”
“And we don’t want to be part of Russia,” he added. “We never wanted to be part of Russia. It has always been our goal to be part of Europe and it always will be.”
Parliament controlled by the government Georgian Dream party and its allies will begin committee hearings on the bill’s third and final reading on Monday. Opposition groups had called for a new wave of protests starting on Saturday.
The crisis pitted the Georgian Dream ruling party against a coalition of opposition parties, civil society, celebrities and the country’s puppet president; mass demonstrations shut down much of central Tbilisi almost every night for more than a month.
Georgian opponents of the bill called it a “Russian law”, comparing it to legislation targeting critics of President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin.
The European Union, which gave Georgia candidate status in December, said the bill, if passed, would pose a serious obstacle to further integration.
Georgian Dream says the bill will promote transparency and Georgia’s national sovereignty.
Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili said the law was needed to stop the West trying to use Georgians as “cannon fodder” in the conflict with Russia.
Although both the ruling party and Georgian public opinion have traditionally been in favor of the country joining the EU and the US-led NATO military alliance, Georgian Dream appears to be deliberately trying to break away from the West, Sullivan said.
“Georgian Dream’s recent rhetoric, proposed legislative changes, and actions are contrary to the wishes of the Georgian people and are designed to isolate Georgians from the United States and Europe,” Sullivan wrote.
