8 March 2023

Protests erupted in Tbilisi on Tuesday after Georgia’s parliament passed the first reading of a controversial draft law that would require some organizations receiving foreign funding to register as “foreign agents.” Rights groups have criticized the law as curtailing basic freedoms in the country...

“76 votes for, 13 against. The bill was adopted in the first reading,” said Speaker of the Parliament Shalva Papuashvili.

The bill must pass further readings in parliament to become law, but so far appears to have broad support among Georgian lawmakers despite criticism domestically and abroad.

Thousands of protesters could be seen outside the parliament building...holding not just the Georgian flag but also European Union flags.

Some threw stones and petrol bombs, as security forces responded with tear gas and water cannon. Video posted on social media also showed protesters storming a barricade at the entrance to the parliament building and tearing it down.

There are fears the law could impede the country’s hopes of closer ties with the European Union.

The President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, threw her support behind protesters, in a video message posted on Facebook, saying “the path of European integration must be protected. Those who support this law today, all those who voted for this law today are violating the Constitution. All of them are alienating us from Europe,” she said...

Georgia’s Interior Ministry asked protesters to disperse, warning that “legal measures” would be taken to restore calm. A total of 66 people were detained and charged with offenses ranging from petty hooliganism and disobedience to police, the country’s public broadcaster First Channel reported...

The Georgian bill has been widely criticized as posing a potential chilling effect for Georgian civil society, and particularly NGOs and news organizations with links to Europe...Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have said that the bill would impede rights to freedom of expression and association in the country with onerous financial reporting requirements.

“The ‘foreign agent’ bills seek to marginalize and discredit independent, foreign-funded groups and media that serve the wider public interest in Georgia,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch...