Protesters defy government’s warning of arrests | DW News

P has arrested uh at least 20 people during demonstrations in Georgia’s capital toi thousands are taken to the streets to protest against a draft law they say threatens press and Civic freedoms but the ruling Georgian Dream party says it will move forward with a so-called foreign agents Bill despite widespread opposition at home and [Applause] abroad police moving in on demonstrators in BISS they had spent the night in front of the parliament protesting what they see as an undemocratic law inspired by Russia but thousands of people outside didn’t stop the low makers from passing the draft in his third and final reading all those in favor the project has given support and the committee meeting is now concluded thank you the new law requires any media organization or NGO getting more than 20% of funding from abroad register as an agent of foreign influence opponents say it’s similar to the foreign agents Bill used by the Kremlin to silence its critics it’s also likely to endanger Georgia’s prospects of joining the EU everything we’ve achieved in the last few years of getting closer to the EU will be torn up by the government and we’ll lose the support of the International Community there’s going to be a confrontation and bloodshed people will not put up with this bill no way the EU and the US have criticized the law calling on Georgia’s ruling party to scrap it protesters want to keep up pressure on politicians but some voices on the streets of bissi say they are against what they call the West’s interference this is Georgia’s business what does the US have to do telling us what laws to pass the new bill will go through the final vote in front of the full Parliament on Tuesday protesters say they will stay on the streets until the politicians back down on the low that would crush their European dreams the W correspondent Maria katamama is iny and explains why the protesters are so determined to get their message across the protests are still ongoing here in the Georgian Capital behind me you can see the protesters they spend the whole night at the parliament Square they say that they will not back down that they will defend their democracy they say that the bill is a shift authoritarians ship for their country that they will not allow to happen they see this bill as a threat to their EU integration they say that if the bill is adopted uh the uh pro-russian forces will take over Georgia that’s what they fear and that’s why they are here protesting today we’ve seen some of the violent Crackdown uh on the protesters some of them they’ve been telling me that uh they’re receiving some threats and phone calls from unknown numbers but they say they will not be intimidated by those tactics um they believe that they can they can still influence the government to drop the bill

The Georgian capital Tbilisi is bracing for more mass protests. Demonstrators spent another night in front of parliament to voice their opposition to a draft law they say threatens press and civil liberties. In the eyes of the demonstrators, it also jeopardizes their country’s EU prospects. They fear the new law could pave the way for an authoritarian turn in the country, which has been a candidate for EU membership for several months. The so-called “foreign influence” bill will be voted on Tuesday.

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24 comments

  1. Let me guess. These protests are spontaneous and legitimate? And the protests here at home are set up and paid for, right? Gtfooh..

  2. Think about the meaning. How can a law that will show transparency in media funding be anti-democratic?
    On what basis?
    On the contrary, hidden financing and influence on people through the media is totalitarianism

  3. push pressure on government and give us EU membership too as soon as possible, thanks. Tired with work permit requests from EU job givers.

  4. Quit the European dream… Sorry, this will not fly. Stay neutral or within the Russian sphere. You really don't want to become the next Ukraine…

  5. That's strange, the longest comment I left for this video has been suspiciously removed… once again, how in the world can you possibly use, in a despotic or authoritarian way, a law that encourages transparency? Governments will always use the excuse that if you have nothing to hide, then why are you worried about somebody monitoring your online activity? Well I will use the same argument against the innumerable amount of ngos operating around the world…. if there is nothing illegal about your activities, and if there is nothing you wish to hide from public view, then what is the problem with transparency?

  10. I really hope Georgia's civil society doesn't let this go. They just have to look at Belarus to understand what expects them if they do.

  11. The similarities with Ukraine are very big: in both situations a political party got elected on promises of integrating the country further into the EU but then got pressured by Putin to do the opposite.

    Putin wants to keep those people poor and under his thumb.

    We need to understand it won't stop at Ukraine, further invasions of Georgia or even Moldova are quite likely if Putin is succesful in Ukraine.

  16. It is sad for me as a Ukrainian to see Sakartvelo moving away from the EU. I hope Georgians will be able to elect a pro-European government in the next election and change this law!

  17. Why these pictures of so few people ? When I was there last week there were several hundred thousand protesters, they have been every night for weeks and continue to come out in massive, historic numbers. These images drastically downplay the immensity of the dissent.

  19. I think the EU should make it 'crystal clear' to the Georgian Dream Party that they will never become part of Europe if they push the foreign agent law.
    We already have a louse in the pelt, it's called Hungary.

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