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full screen Demonstrations against a controversial so-called “agent law” outside Georgia’s parliament in Tbilisi overnight Thursday. Photo: Zurab Tsertsvadze/AP/TT
Georgia’s parliament is canceling Thursday’s plenary session, in light of damage to the parliament building in recent days of violent demonstrations against a controversial law.
On Wednesday, police used water cannons, tear gas and pepper spray against tens of thousands of activists demonstrating against what was described as a controversial “agent law”.
The wave of protests has been going on for a few weeks. It was brought after the ruling Georgian Dream (Kods) party announced that it wants to introduce the law, which aims to be able to label organizations as “foreign agents” if they receive more than 20 percent of their funding from other countries.
A similar law in Russia is used to punish government critics and silence independent media.
A total of three turns are required in parliament for the law to get the green light and for the president to sign it. The second was carried out on Wednesday and the last is planned for mid-May. It is unclear whether the schedule is affected by Thursday’s canceled session.
The law has, among other things, been criticized by the EU.