Georgian security forces used water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades against some 20,000 protesters gathered outside parliament on Tuesday night in Tbilisi, Georgia, sharply intensifying a crackdown after lawmakers debated a law on "foreign agents" promoted by the Government and which the opposition denounces as a copy of the regulations used in Russia to silence dissent.
The protesters - who have been protesting every day since April 17, the day the draft of the controversial law was approved - tried to block the outside area and prevent deputies from leaving through the back door of the parliamentary building, built during Soviet times, heavily guarded by riot forces.
"No to the Russian law!"; "Georgia!" some shouted at the Government. Others did it to the agents: "Slaves!"; "Russians!", who then threw eggs at the police officers, according to AFP. Witness statements to Reuters said they saw some police officers physically assaulting some of the protesters, throwing eggs and bottles at them. They then proceeded to use tear gas, water cannons and stun grenades to disperse them from the area of the legislative branch building.
Levan Khabeishvili, the leader of Georgia's main opposition party, the United National Movement, posted an X-shaped image with a bloodied face and a black eye. Khabeishvili was allegedly attacked by police after disappearing from the rally in Tbilisi, according to party sources reported by Reuters.
After being dispersed from the parliament - pepper spray and batons - about two thousand people blocked Rustaveli Avenue, the main artery of Tbilisi, with barricades set up with coffee tables and garbage containers.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said in a post on
The bill provides for the annual publication of statements by non-governmental organizations and media outlets, whose budget consists of more than 20 percent of foreign funds.
The Government explains the need to pass the law by saying that more than 80 percent of these revenues are not transparent and can be used to destabilize the country in the run-up to the next parliamentary elections on October 26 of this year.
The "Russian law" has deepened divisions in the deeply polarized South Caucasus country, pitting the ruling Georgian Dream party against a protest movement backed by opposition groups, civil society and the country's celebrities.
Russia is frowned upon by many Georgians for supporting the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgia lost a brief war with Russia in 2008.
