By Felix Light
TBILISI (Reuters) -Riot police in Georgia began clearing demonstrators from around the ex-Soviet state’s parliament on Tuesday as lawmakers debated a bill on “foreign agents” that the opposition denounces as authoritarian.
The bill would require organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as being agents of foreign influence. It is likely to pass in a parliament controlled by the ruling Georgian Dream party and its allies.
Opponents say the legislation will damage Georgia’s bid to join the European Union.
More than 5,000 protesters had massed by parliament for a second day to denounce the bill, approved by a parliamentary committee on Monday.
Officers, some carrying shotguns, ordered protesters to disperse and deployed what appeared to be a crowd-control substance like pepper spray.
Groups of protesters fled the area and within minutes the rear of the building was cleared of demonstrators, though many remained on other approaches to the parliament. Eyewitnesses saw several people detained by police.
Those who left joined other protesters who had spent the day massed on Rustaveli Avenue, a major city artery.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry said one police officer was injured in the fracas.
PROTESTERS SEE LINK TO RUSSIAN LAW
Critics have compared the bill to Russian legislation used by the Kremlin to crack down on dissent – a potent charge in the South Caucasus country, where Russia is unpopular for its support of the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia defeated Georgia in a short war in 2008.
Protesters shouted slogans against the “Russian law” on Tuesday afternoon as police sealed entrances to the Soviet-built complex. On the first day of protests on Monday, they chanted “Russians! Russians!” at police and ruling party MPs.
During the debate on the bill, Archil Talakvadze, a senior MP representing Georgian Dream, said: “This law defends democracy in our country from any foreign interference.”
In response, Tina Bokuchava, parliamentary leader of the United National Movement opposition party said: “Recall this law, once and for all! There is no place in Georgia for a Russian law. Europe is the choice of the Georgian people.”
The bill must pass three readings in parliament, and will then likely face a fourth vote to override a veto by President Salome Zourabichvili, a critic of Georgian Dream who opposes the bill. Her powers are mostly ceremonial.
Western countries including the United States, Britain and Germany have urged Georgia not to pass the bill.
Georgia’s government, which has faced accusations of authoritarianism and pro-Russian leanings, says the law is needed to promote transparency and combat “pseudo-liberal values” imposed by foreigners.
Georgian Dream unexpectedly reintroduced the bill this month, more than a year after abandoning an earlier attempt to pass the law amid protests.
Protesters told Reuters that they saw Georgia’s future membership of the EU, which is overwhelmingly popular in the country of 3.7 million, as being on the line.
“I don’t like that the government is trying to suppress NGOs and put some labels on them as if they are foreign agents,” said Luka Tsulaia, a 32-year-old computer programmer.
“It’s about maintaining independence and also maintaining the laws so that we can integrate with the European Union better.”
(Reporting by Felix Light; Editing by Mark Trevelyan, Andrew Heavens and Ron Popeski)
