Draft Law on “Foreign Agents” Withdrawn from Georgian Parliament

In Georgia, the draft law on foreign agents, which caused major protests, has been withdrawn from parliament. This is stated in a joint statement by the ruling Georgian Dream, the Power of the People public movement and the parliamentary majority. At the same time, the ruling party does not intend to give up its initiative.

“We see that the adopted bill has caused controversy in society. The lie machine was able to present the bill in a negative light and mislead a certain part of the population. The bill was falsely labeled Russian law, and its adoption on first reading was presented in the eyes of part of the public as a departure from the European course,” the statement said.

The party claims that “radical forces managed to involve some of the youth in illegal activities.” Georgian Dream thanked the “heroic law enforcement officers who patiently and to the highest standards responded to the violence.” The special forces, in particular, dispersed the protesters with water cannons and used tear gas.

“We, as a government responsible to every member of society, have decided to unconditionally withdraw the bill we supported without any reservations. As the emotional background subsides, we will better explain to the public why the bill was passed and why it was important to ensure the transparency of foreign influence in our country. To do this, we will begin meetings with the population and bring to the general public the whole truth about every detail of the case,” the party added.

Massive protests erupted across Georgia after the country’s parliament on March 7 approved in the first reading one of two bills on foreign agents. Yesterday, March 8, the opposition put forward two demands to the authorities: to withdraw the initiative and to release all those previously detained at the rally, but these demands were not met. Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili promised to veto the bill.