Georgian President vetoes ‘foreign agents’ bill, TASS reports
Tbilisi, Georgia Reuters Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has announced that she has vetoed a draft law on foreign agents, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported on Saturday. Zourabichvili had said previously that she would veto the bill, which has sparked street protests, but her decision can be overridden by another vote in parliament, controlled by […]
EU urges Georgia to withdraw ‘foreign agent’ bill as protests continue
Brussels, Belgium/Tbilisi, Georgia Reuters The European Union urged Georgia on Wednesday to withdraw its highly contested “foreign agents” bill, saying the measure would set back the nation’s ambitions to join the bloc, as protests against the legislation continued in a rolling political crisis. Georgia’s parliament on Tuesday passed the third and final reading of the […]
Georgian parliament passes ‘foreign agent’ bill, prompting US anger, new protests
Tbilisi, Georgia Reuters Georgia’s parliament on Tuesday passed the third and final reading of a “foreign agents” bill, prompting a warning from the United States that if the legislation failed to meet European Union standards, Washington could review relations. Thousands of protesters, who along with Western nations denounce the bill as authoritarian and Russian-inspired, massed […]
Georgian police disperse protesters as parliament approves ‘foreign bill’ second reading
Tbilisi, Georgia Reuters Georgia’s parliament on Wednesday approved the second reading of a bill on “foreign agents” that has been criticised as Kremlin-inspired, as police fired tear gas and stun grenades to clear a large crowd of protesters opposed to the draft law. The bill, which would require organisations receiving more than 20 per cent […]
Georgian police crack down on ‘foreign agent’ bill protesters with water cannon, tear gas
Tbilisi, Georgia Reuters Georgian security forces used water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades against protesters outside parliament late on Tuesday, sharply escalating a crackdown after lawmakers debated a “foreign agents” bill which is viewed by the opposition and Western nations as authoritarian and Russian-inspired. Reuters eyewitnesses saw some police officers physically attack protesters, who […]
Georgia’s Ivanishvili lashes out at West amid ‘foreign agent’ bill crisis
Tbilisi, Georgia Reuters Bidzina Ivanishvili, the influential billionaire founder of Georgia’s ruling party, accused a Western “global party of war” of meddling in Georgia in a rare speech at a rally backing a bill on foreign agents that has sparked a political crisis in the South Caucasus country. Ivanishvili, who served as Georgia’s Prime Minister […]
Georgian police clear protesters against foreign agent bill
Tbilisi, Georgia Reuters Riot police in Georgia waded into demonstrators and cleared them from around part of the ex-Soviet state’s parliament on Tuesday as lawmakers debated a bill on “foreign agents” that the opposition denounces as authoritarian. The bill would require organisations receiving more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad to register […]
Protesters rally, lawmakers brawl as Georgia debates “foreign agent” bill
Tbilisi, Georgia Reuters Thousands of Georgians protested on Monday and lawmakers came to blows as ruling party legislators gave the initial go-ahead for debate on a bill on “foreign agents” that has been criticised by Western and domestic critics as Russian-inspired. More than 5,000 demonstrators massed outside Georgia’s Soviet-built parliament building, demanding the government withdraw […]