36 people detained during the protests in Georgia
During the night, the police detained 36 people at a protest outside the parliament building in Tbilisi. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, they are accused of minor hooliganism and disobedience to the authorities.
The protests began during the parliamentary debate on the draft law on foreign agents. The opposition considers the initiative dangerous, aimed at suppressing civil liberties and media.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili called for banning the public movement "Power of the People", which proposed a law on foreign agents. The reason is MP Mikhail Kavelashvili’s statement that Georgia’s EU membership is not an end in itself. According to Zurabishvili, integration into the EU and NATO is a goal proclaimed by the Constitution, which means the MP makes a statement against the Supreme Law.
A few weeks ago the «Power of the People» movement initiated in the Parliament the bill «On transparency of foreign influence». The aim is to create a register of influence agents, where all non-profit legal entities and mass media whose revenues are financed by foreign forces of more than 20%, will be registered.
