Thousands protest at Georgian 'foreign agent' bill

Protesters person clashed with constabulary successful Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, aft parliament backed a arguable draught instrumentality which critics accidental limits property state and suppresses civilian society.

Riot constabulary utilized h2o cannon and capsicum spray to disperse the crowds extracurricular the parliament building.

Some protesters were seen falling connected the crushed and coughing, portion others waved EU and Georgian flags.

The authorities says respective policemen were wounded and constabulary cogwheel was damaged.

There has been wide planetary condemnation of the bill, which would necessitate non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and autarkic media to state themselves arsenic overseas agents, if they person much than 20% of their backing from abroad.

The absorption described it arsenic a Russian-style instrumentality that would stigmatise and clamp down connected Georgia's vibrant civilian nine and autarkic media. Further protests extracurricular parliament person been called for Wednesday.

US authorities section spokesperson Ned Price said the draught authorities would beryllium a tremendous setback and "would onslaught astatine immoderate of the precise rights that are cardinal to the aspirations of the radical of Georgia".

The EU is presently considering Georgia's exertion for campaigner presumption and EU overseas argumentation main Josep Borrell warned that the measure was "incompatible with EU values and standards".

Russia passed its ain mentation of a "foreign agents" instrumentality successful 2012, expanding it implicit the years to people and suppress Western-funded NGOs and media.

"The instrumentality is Russian arsenic we each know... We don't privation to beryllium a portion of the ex-Soviet Union, we privation to beryllium a portion of the European Union, we privation to beryllium pro-West," 1 protester told Reuters quality agency.

Speaking via video during a sojourn to New York, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili voiced her enactment for the protesters: "I americium by your side. Today you correspond escaped Georgia. Georgia, which sees its aboriginal successful Europe, volition not let anyone to instrumentality distant this future."

But wrong the parliament building, 76 lawmakers from the governing Georgian Dream enactment gave their archetypal enactment to the caller "transparency of overseas influence" draught law.

On Monday, a committee proceeding into the projected authorities ended successful a parliamentary brawl.

Passing the instrumentality would spot Georgia articulation a database of undemocratic and authoritarian post-Soviet states specified arsenic Belarus, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan which person copied the Russian instrumentality connected restricting the activities of NGOs.

Historically, the word "agent" successful Russia and Georgia has the meaning of "spy" and "traitor", giving a antagonistic connotation to the enactment done by civilian society. It suggests they are acting successful the involvement of overseas forces alternatively than doing bully for the state and society.

The US embassy issued a connection describing Tuesday's ballot arsenic a "dark time for Georgia's democracy".

It added that parliament's advancing "of these Kremlin-inspired laws was incompatible with the radical of Georgia's wide tendency for European integration and its antiauthoritarian development".

The 2 bills, connected the "transparency of overseas agents" and the "registration of overseas agents", were submitted to parliament by the openly anti-Western People's Power movement, a adjacent state of the governing Georgian Dream party.

The radical has argued that the 2nd measure was an nonstop analogue of the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

Georgian Dream supported the drafts, saying that specified laws were needed to amended transparency.

At a briefing connected Tuesday evening, the president of the governing party, Irakli Kobakhidze, deed backmost astatine the US embassy's statement, saying it was "a acheronian time for the extremist absorption and its supporters".

What astir protesters and the country's absorption fearfulness is that the adoption of the instrumentality would people an extremity to Georgia's long-standing ambition to articulation the EU. More than 80% of Georgia's colonisation supports Georgia's European perspective, which is besides enshrined successful the country's constitution.

Additional reporting by Emily McGarvey.