Georgia’s ruling party is withdrawing a controversial bill that has sparked mass protests in the capital, Tbilisi, in recent days. But the demonstrations continue.
For the third time in a row, the Georgians took control of the main street of the capital, Tbilisi, yesterday. But Gheorghe Djogia, deputy Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, noted on Twitter that this time the atmosphere was celebratory. Demonstrators celebrated the government’s withdrawal of the bill that sparked the protests. And again they carried European and Ukrainian flags.
The law would have allowed organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to be classified as “foreign clients”. Those organizations would then have to deal with onerous inspections and reports.
The ruling Georgian Dream party appears to be taking inspiration from the Kremlin: Russia has had a similar law for some time. Pro-European Georgian President Salome Zorabilishvili said the law was “dictated by Moscow”. Russia denies any involvement.
“As a government agency responsible for every citizen, we have decided to withdraw this law unconditionally,” Georgian Dream said yesterday. The party condemned the “lies” it said the “radical opposition” had spoken about the bill.
Opposition parties say they will continue to demonstrate until the government completely repudiates the initiative and all protesters detained on Tuesday and Wednesday are released. Then came the violent clashes with the security forces, who used tear gas and water cannons.
Helen Khoshtaria, founder of the pro-European Drew party, said that “the protest is not only about the law, it is also about the Russian nature of the Georgian Dream party”. “Don’t trust what they say.”
The European Union warned that the law would worsen relations and negatively affect Georgia’s ambitions to obtain candidate status.
The EU Embassy in Tbilisi welcomed the government’s announcement: “We encourage all Georgian political leaders to continue pro-EU reforms in line with the priorities of making Georgia a candidate country.”
European leaders refused to grant Georgia this status last year due to the tense political situation and government policies. They put forward 12 priorities that Georgia must achieve first, including legal reform.
