"Protesters against the foreign agents law in central Tbilisi in Georgia broke through the iron barriers at the entrance to the parliament, attempting to enter the palace courtyard."
This was written by the Russian agency Ria Novosti.
"The demonstrators broke through the iron fences installed in front of the main gate of the parliament", while "the special forces stationed in the inner courtyard of the parliament use water cannons to disperse the demonstrators", reports Rustavi 2 TV.
The President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, from New York, where she is currently visiting, addressed the participants of the protests against the controversial "foreign agents" bill and expressed her support
.
Ukrainska Pravda reports it.
"I am addressing you who represent free Georgia. Georgia which sees its future in Europe and will not allow anyone to deprive it of this future", underlined the president, specifying that her country does not need the bill on "foreign agents" and promising to veto.
However, the Tbilisi parliament has the possibility to override the presidential veto, as it did last year on the so-called wiretapping law, which was criticized by the
THE LAW
The Georgian parliament has approved in first reading the two drafts of the bill which aims to introduce new rules for the control of so-called 'foreign agents', mainly designed for the media.
The law, supported by the ruling Georgian Dream party, follows the one already in force in Russia and is seen by the opposition as an
attempt to gag information
.
According to reports from Ukrainska Pravda, 76 deputies voted in favor, while 13 deputies voted against.
The discussion was initially scheduled for 9 March.
The bill will now be sent to the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe for an opinion.
Subsequently, these bills will be heard and possibly passed in second and third readings by the Georgian parliament, Interfax reported.
Riot police were immediately deployed as soon as the bills were passed.
In fact, outside the parliament,
thousands of people gathered to protest
against the law.
Water and spray cannons were used on them.
The US embassy called these events "a black day for Georgian democracy".
The proposal to adopt a law on 'foreign agents' in Georgia too was presented by the pro-government People's Power party and met with protests from non-governmental organizations and the media.
The law provides that non-commercial companies that receive more than 20% of their financing from foreign sources are precisely registered as foreign agents, with possible limitations on their activities.
