Georgia’s governing party, the Georgian Dream, announced Thursday morning that it will abandon the proposed law on “foreign agents” “unconditionally”, which in recent days had caused huge protests, especially in the capital, Tbilisi. In a press release, Georgian Dream said it wanted to abandon the bill to try to reduce “clash” in society.
The bill stipulated that media and NGOs that receive at least 20 percent of their funds from abroad had to register as “foreign agents”, and could be forced to pay large fines if they did not. According to protesters and many commentators, the proposal closely resembled a law that has been used in Russia since 2012 to repress dissidents and independent media; it was supported by the government but much criticized by the opposition and also by the country’s president, Salomé Zourabichvili.
In recent days, thousands of people had protested against the law, and there were also very harsh clashes with the police: to disperse the demonstrators, the police used water cannons and tear gas. Between 7 and 8 March, the two main days of the protests, they were arrested 133 people.
Protesters feared that the law would favor an authoritarian turn similar to that carried out by President Vladimir Putin in Russia: one of the main slogans of the protest was “No to Russian law”. They also feared it was a move that would jeopardize Georgia’s ability to join the European Union in the future: 75 percent of the population is in favor upon entry into the European Union, and last year the country’s government had presented formal question of joining the Union.
– Read also: The symbolic moment of the protests in Georgia