Thousands of Georgians demonstrated against a bill that has been
approved in parliament for a second reading.
Called the Foreign Agents Bill.
It is being criticized as mirroring A draconian Russian law
that will further threaten to build his bid to join
the European Union.
Now the bill would require groups or entities to state
whether they are funded from abroad.
The criteria here is that firms receiving more than 20%
of their funding from outside Georgia will have to register
as foreign agents.
The bill will cover non governmental firms,
media and trade unions.
The bill is being criticized as authoritarian in nature and
was introduced despite a pledge by the government last year
to unconditionally withdraw such legislation.
The lawmakers voted 83 to 23 to adopt the bill
in a second reading and as the countries parliament moved
closer in adopting the controversial law.
Thousands of Georgians took to the street on Wednesday in
the capital city of Vincey denouncing the bill as the
Russian law,
citing how the Kremlin uses similar legislation to stigmatize independent
news,
media and organizations critical of the Kremlin.
Georgian police were seen using water cannons,
tear gas and pepper spray against the 10s of thousands
of demonstrators who thronged to the surrounding streets.
Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von de Alien condemned the
violence in Vilsie into ex.
She said that Georgia is at crossroads and that it
should stay the course on the road to Europe.
Western partners are also ringing the alarm,
calling the bill a step backwards and does not further
Euro Atlantic.
Integration The 3rd and final reading of the bill is
expected to take place on the 17th of May.