This is a general thread for Georgia related news and discussions.
Thousands protest in Georgia against 'foreign influence' law
Monday, 29 Apr 2024 07:44
Some 20,000 Georgians have staged a "March for Europe, calling on the country's government to scrap a controversial "foreign influence" bill which the EU has warned would undermine Tbilisi's European aspirations.
There have been mass anti-government protests since mid-April, when the ruling Georgian Dream party reintroduced plans to pass a law critics say resembles Russian legislation used to silence dissent.
Waves of similar street protests - during which police used tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators - forced the party to drop a similar measure in 2023.
Police have again clashed with protesters during the latest rallies.
Yesterday evening at least 20,000 people turned out at Tbilisi's central Republic Square, according to an AFP estimate.
Time_Traveller wrote: ↑Mon Apr 29, 2024 8:43 am Thousands protest in Georgia against 'foreign influence' law
Monday, 29 Apr 2024 07:44
Some 20,000 Georgians have staged a "March for Europe, calling on the country's government to scrap a controversial "foreign influence" bill which the EU has warned would undermine Tbilisi's European aspirations.
There have been mass anti-government protests since mid-April, when the ruling Georgian Dream party reintroduced plans to pass a law critics say resembles Russian legislation used to silence dissent.
Waves of similar street protests - during which police used tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators - forced the party to drop a similar measure in 2023.
Police have again clashed with protesters during the latest rallies.
Yesterday evening at least 20,000 people turned out at Tbilisi's central Republic Square, according to an AFP estimate.
Georgia deploys tear gas, water cannon against pro-EU protesters amid ‘Russian law’ outcry
APRIL 30, 2024 8:58 PM CET
TBILISI — Riot police cracked down on demonstrators in the Georgian capital Tuesday night, clearing an area in front of the parliament where thousands had been demanding the government drop a controversial Putin-style “foreign agent” law.
Authorities used water cannon to disperse protesters, some of whom waved EU flags as jets of water forced them away from the building. Riot police charged the crowd several times without warning; dozens were beaten and pushed back. Tear gas, deployed where demonstrators had been standing, added to the chaos.
Several times after being driven off, however, the protesters returned to occupy central Rustaveli Avenue, sparking further clashes with riot police. Ambulances removed the injured and police detained an unknown number of people.
The violence marks a sharp escalation after weeks of public demonstrations opposing the ruling Georgian Dream party’s proposals to require NGOs, campaign groups and media outlets to register as “foreign agents” if they receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.
Georgian Dream initially proposed the measures last year, but dropped them amid widespread public outcry and criticism from abroad in which comparisons were drawn with rules introduced by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime to stifle dissent and suffocate civil society.
Georgia approves controversial law that sparked mass protests
2 hours ago
Georgia's parliament has voted through a divisive "foreign agent" law that has sparked weeks of mass street protests.
However, the bill now faces a likely veto by Georgia's president, which parliament can override by holding an additional vote.
Critics say the bill - which they call the "Russia law" - could be used to threaten civil liberties.
Thousands of people were gathered near the parliament in Tbilisi to protest the decision.
On Monday, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze warned that if authorities backed down at the bill's third reading, Georgia would lose sovereignty and "easily share the fate of Ukraine", without detailing what he meant.
Protesters heckled the police - clad in full riot gear - guarding the side entrances to the building. The atmosphere was tense inside the parliament too, with physical and verbal altercations taking place between pro-government and opposition MPs.
Georgian President vetoes law on transparency of foreign influence
18 May 2024 - 18:28
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Saturday vetoed the law on transparency of foreign influence, reintroduced by the ruling Georgian Dream party against the backdrop of ongoing public protests and criticism from Georgia’s foreign partner states.
The law calls for the registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.
At a press briefing in the Presidential Administration, Zourabichvili said she had vetoed “the Russian law” and claimed it was “against our constitution and European standards”, stressing the law would be “an obstacle for Georgia on its European path”.
This veto is completely legal and will be delivered to the Parliament today. This law is subject to no change, no improvement, and therefore the veto is very simple. This law should be repealed”, the President noted.
The Parliament on Tuesday adopted the transparency law, which requires groups “considered to be an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power” to be registered in the public registry with the status and publicise their received funding. The legislative piece was supported by 84 MPs in the 150-member lawmaking body, with 30 voting against it.
Georgia’s shark-owning billionaire looms over an upcoming election through bulletproof glass
1 day ago
Georgia’s saviour. Russia’s stooge. Philanthropist. Oligarch. Bidzina Ivanishvili has been called all these things, and more.
The billionaire, Georgia’s richest person and the founder of its ruling party, is seldom seen in public and, of late, almost exclusively behind bulletproof glass. Yet his presence looms large over this small European country caught between Russia and the West, and an election that could shape its destiny.
Ivanishvili can gaze down on downtown Tbilisi from a massive steel-and-glass clifftop mansion that rears about 60 metres over the capital, complete with helipad. He indulges in exotic passions like keeping sharks and zebras, and collecting rare trees.
The 68-year-old is viewed by many friends and foes alike as Georgia’s most powerful figure, or eminence grise, even though he hasn’t held public office for over a decade. He has cast Saturday’s election as an existential fight to prevent a “Global War Party” in the West from pushing Georgia into a ruinous conflict with former overlord Russia like he says it did with Ukraine.
“Georgia and Ukraine were not allowed to join Nato and were left outside,” he said in a rare public appearance at a pro-government rally in Tbilisi on 29 April.
Tense election fight for Georgia's future in Europe
5 hours ago
Georgians know all about Russia's wars. Several years before Russia invaded Ukraine, its army launched a five-day war in August 2008. The city of Gori was bombed and occupied, and a fierce battle further north in Shindisi left the station destroyed and the railway abandoned.
So when the country's four opposition groups label Saturday's pivotal election as a choice between Russia or Europe, their aim is to end 12 years of rule by the governing Georgian Dream party, who they accuse of drifting back into Russia's orbit.
They want to revive Georgia's stalled bid to join the European Union.
"In these streets we had Russians," says Mindia Goderdzishvili, running the campaign in Gori for opposition group Coalition for Change. "People here have this in their memories and the government uses this in a bad way, playing on their emotions because they want to stay in power."
Georgian Dream, known as GD, and its powerful billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili vehemently reject the opposition's framing of the vote as a choice between Russia or Europe.
Georgians join mass rally as president urges them to protest 'rigged vote'
28 October 2024, 14:54 GMT
Georgia's pro-Western president has appealed to the international community to stand behind her country's population after a disputed election that she says was "totally falsified".
Salome Zourabichivili, who has sided with the opposition, called on Georgians to rally outside parliament, telling the BBC's Steve Rosenberg that this is a "crucial moment".
The ruling Georgian Dream party and the election commission are adamant the result, giving the government almost 54% of the vote, was free and fair.
However, Zourabichvili urged Georgia's partners needed to see what was happening, adding that the government's victory was "not the will of the Georgian people" who wanted to keep their European future.
Zourabichvili made clear the protest would be "very peaceful", adding that she did not believe Georgia's authorities wanted confrontation.
Georgia Continues to be Rocked by Days of Violent Protests by Lex Harvey
December 2, 2024
Introduction:
(CNN) Days of protests have rocked Georgia following the government’s controversial decision to delay the former Soviet country’s bid to join the European Union.
Tensions have been brewing for months in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people, where critics accuse the ruling Georgian Dream party of following increasingly authoritarian, pro-Russia policies in a turn away from the West that has tempered hopes for Georgia’s long-promised path to EU membership.
The protests have been met with a violent police crackdown as the ruling party and thousands of protesters become locked in a deepening battle over the country’s future and whether Georgia should forge closer ties with Russia or Europe.
Here’s what you need to know.
What sparked the protests?
Tensions intensified in late October when Georgian Dream claimed victory in a contested election that was widely seen as a referendum on joining the EU.
