2024-05-01 10:03:52
Police in EU candidate country Georgia have arrested 63 participants in mass anti-government protests. Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Darakhvelidze said this on Wednesday in Tbilisi. During the night, the security forces used tear gas, water cannons and batons against the crowd of tens of thousands of people. For weeks, their protests have been directed against plans to prevent alleged foreign influence on civil society.
The second reading of this law will continue in the parliament of the former Soviet republic on Wednesday. Among those arrested was Levan Khabeishvili, the leader of the largest opposition party, the United National Movement (UNM). Khabeishvili published a photo showing his face swollen with blood. He stated that he had been ill-treated by the police.
The security forces used force against the demonstrators on Tuesday evening and pushed them away from the parliament building. The situation only calmed down at night. New protests have been announced for Wednesday.
The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell criticized the police operation against peaceful demonstrators. “Georgia is a candidate for EU membership. I call on the authorities to guarantee the right to peaceful assembly,” he wrote on the social network X. “The use of violence to suppress this is unacceptable.”
The bone of contention is a law like the one in Russia that classifies non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive money from abroad as foreign agents. Many projects to promote democracy in the ex-Soviet republic work with money from EU countries or the USA. The ruling Georgian Dream party under its honorary president, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, speaks of greater transparency. Critics expect the Russian-style law to be misused to stop money flows and persecute pro-Western forces. The Georgian Dream party, which has been in power since 2012, is becoming increasingly authoritarian ahead of the parliamentary elections in the fall. The pro-European demonstrators fear that this course endangers rapprochement with the EU – a course that Georgian Dream stood for when it first came to power after winning the election in 2012.
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