Tbilisi Tense As Georgians Continue Protests, Despite Crackdown

A protester opposed to the controversial "foreign agent" bill stands in the center of Heroes' Square in Tbilisi during a rally on May 2–3.

The European Union and the United States have condemned the controversial legislation that is making its way through Georgia's parliament following violent clashes between police and protesters that broke out late on May 1.

Peaceful protesters surround the monument on Heroes' Square.

The May 1 demonstration -- one of the largest the country has ever seen -- took place after the bill advanced in a second-reading vote. 

Portraits of the leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party are covered in graffiti with the inscription "No To Russian Regime."

Georgians have been demonstrating in large numbers since a slightly modified version of the legislation was reintroduced on April 9.

Protesters gesture from an overpass.

The bill's opponents refer to the bill as "the Russian law," a reference to the "foreign agent" statute that the Kremlin has employed to stifle dissent.

Peaceful protesters descend upon Heroes' Square.

The bill would require organizations receiving more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as "agents of foreign influence." Opponents warn that implementing the law could jeopardize the country's move toward European Union membership.

A man is led away by police during the largely peaceful protest on May 2.

The EU’s foreign policy arm earlier this month criticized Georgian Dream’s decision to reintroduce the law, which it said “raises serious concerns” around media freedom in the country -- something it called “crucial for the EU accession process.”

An injured protester receives first aid inside an ambulance during the May 2-3 protests.

During the clashes on May 1, at least eight people said they were struck by rubber bullets. RFE/RL gathered eyewitness accounts, photographic evidence of injuries, interviewed two of the injured, and filmed rubber bullets at the scene where they were reportedly fired.

The evidence seen by RFE/RL is consistent with injuries caused by rubber bullets, but Deputy Interior Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze denied the use of rubber bullets against demonstrators when he addressed reporters at a press briefing.

An injured man is helped by protesters at Heroes' Square early on May 3. Eyewitnesses, including two injured men, told RFE/RL that what they called "provocateurs" arrived by car around 1 a.m. and physically assaulted some of the protesters.



 

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, who has distanced herself from the policies of the ruling party, has promised to veto the law if it is formally adopted in a third reading, as expected.

Protesters stop to view the names of fallen soldiers who battled against the Soviet Army in the 1920s, the Abkhaz war in 1992-93, and in the August 2008 Russo-Georgian War at Heroes' Square.

One of the organizers told RFE/RL that a large protest against the "foreign agent" bill is currently being planned for May 11.