Today, March 7, the US Embassy in Georgia reacted to the beginning of the discussion of draft laws on "foreign agents" at the plenary session of the parliament.
This is reported by "News of Georgia" and "Georgia Online".
"Today is a dark day for Georgian democracy. The parliament's promotion of Kremlin-inspired laws is incompatible with the clear desire of the people of Georgia for European integration and its democratic development," the statement read.
In addition, they added, the adoption of such a law would harm Georgia's relations with its strategic partners and undermine the important work of many Georgian organizations that help fellow citizens.
"What is happening raises real questions about the commitment of the ruling party (Georgia - ed.) to Euro-Atlantic integration," the US embassy emphasized.
Today, participants of the action against the law on "foreign agents" blocked Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi.
The number of participants increased significantly after hearings of draft laws on "foreign agents" began at the plenary session.
According to local media, special forces have been mobilized near the building. In addition, an additional police outfit is also charged on the opposite side of the parliament behind the Kashveti temple.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs, in turn, made a statement, warning the organizers and leaders of the rally not to allow calls for violence and to ensure that the action does not become violent. Last Friday, after a similar warning, 36 people were arrested at the rally near the parliament.
Speaking yesterday in the USA at the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women of the UN Economic and Social Council, the President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili reacted to the bills on "agents of foreign influence" supported by the ruling party and noted that the new bill will limit freedom.
"The draft law presented by some groups in my country, which will limit the freedom of non-governmental organizations, will be extremely harmful to the democratic transformation of our society, the elimination of gender discrimination and the actual paths of our European integration. Based on this, I have already expressed my strong disagreement with this draft law and am using this an opportunity to state my position here as well," Zurabishvili emphasized.
Despite this, today at the plenary session of the Parliament of Georgia, the Russian law declaring non-governmental organizations and part of the mass media "agents of foreign influence" was supported in the first reading.
Mamuka Mdiniradze, the head of the Georgian Dream parliamentary faction, said that these bills will be discussed on Thursday, March 9, but he himself suggested that the parliament discuss the bills today.
We will remind, at the end of February, Georgia introduced a bill on "foreign agents", which actually copies the Russian law. According to the document, mass media and public organizations that receive funding from abroad will be given the status of "foreign agents".
Yesterday, over the discussion of an anti-European document, Georgian deputies got into a fight.