Sunday's protest was a continuation of protests organized by opposition parties and activists in recent weeks. It all started in early April when officials announced they were returning to work on the project after suspending it a year earlier due to public pressure.
Georgians are protesting against the controversial law
The law on foreign agents, modeled after the law in force in Russia, requires law firms and media outlets to receive more than 20 percent. Funding from abroad is subject to registration and reporting and is entered into a special register of agents of foreign influence. The Ministry of Justice can conduct inspections of such organizations under any pretext.
The ruling Georgian Dream party says the bill aims to increase transparency in the country's political life.
The last reading of the bill in Parliament is scheduled for May 17. Georgian President Salome Zorabishvili announced she would veto the bill, but Georgian Dream said it had enough delegates to override her veto.
After resuming work on the bill, US, EU and UN representatives expressed concern and appealed to officials in Tbilisi to withdraw from the plan. It was asserted that this contradicted Georgia's European aspirations and its European integration process. In December 2023, Georgia received EU candidate status.
Georgian Dream announced that it would not give up, and called critical comments and appeals from the US, EU and international organizations “interference in the country's internal affairs”.