Georgia approves “foreign influence” bill: what role could President Salome Zourabichvil play?
we start the program in tii Georgia where a short while ago today Parliament approved a divisive bill that protesters say is a threat to the country’s democracy over the past few weeks those demonstrators have filled the streets outside of parliament demanding the government does not make the bill law they’ve described the legislation as a copy of a law in Russia and argue it will stifle Independent Media and nonprofit organizations well let’s cross live to tii then our correspondent Reis jeante standing by for us with the very latest Reis clearly a big moment today then for Georgia tell us first of all what happened today in Parliament yeah indeed you are right it is really an historical day and very important because most of the people which are in the street since a months now think that this is this law is uh is bringing back Georgia on the Russian side of the wall I would say so it’s extremely important uh today the parliament F decided to to vote to pass the law uh 83 or 84 uh MPS did vote for for the for this law this is the ones of the the majority the georan dream of the oligarch Bina Ian and of course there is no consensus at the time in in the country over this law and there won’t be any consensus in this in this country and as you can see now right now on the images we see that the demon the people from the demonstration start to be more aggressive I would say towards the parliament because this law has no consensus and a majority of Georgians are against it because of what it means and what they call the Russian law so the the following hours would be probably very tense in PC indeed the images were showing our viewers now we’ve just been showing our viewers are live from tii as you say protesters Gathering there near or or indeed perhaps just outside the Georgian Parliament given this has now passed its final reading today where do you think the protest movement goes from here this is difficult to say at the moment because this movement is really a movement with no leaders and um this is I mean a movement of the Civil Society even the political parties are not uh leading it so it’s difficult to say and the orientation is of where it is going is not decided I mean I think even within the the the the protest what they want for sure is this law to be withdraw to not be passed um and probably this coming days there will be a lot of of people even this last month I’m living in this country since more than 20 years and I never saw so big demonstrations for example after the first reading there were 40,000 people in the street after the second reading there were twice more so how many people there would be tonight and what would be the mood is difficult to say but I think they will fight to be to make sure that this law won’t be uh uh in in the Georgian uh uh laws let’s say what role could the president of Georgia salom zures Philly now play because she’s been a really vocal opponent of the government’s plans over the past few weeks AB absolutely you’re right and and she became precisely because there is no leadership within the movement because the the opposition in Georgia is in a disarray and very divided she started to play a role that could be she could be the one who makees some kind of consensus and the leading force of the pro European and the pro Western uh mood of the of the country I would say so um on the first probably in the coming days if not in the coming hours she will put her vetto on the law but as the Georgian regime is parliamentary regimes this um vetto would be overcome by the parliament but still she she she she can play an important role at the moment to unify and to give a direction to this movement reie jeante for now thank you very much indeed but we may well cross back speak to Reis again as we keep an eye on that protest movement iny for now thank you
The Georgian parliament on Tuesday approved in the third and final reading a divisive bill that sparked weeks of mass protests, with critics seeing it as a threat to democratic freedoms and the country’s aspirations to join the European Union. More information with FRANCE 24 and RFI correspondent in Tbilisi, Régis Gente.
#Georgia #Europe #Russia
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12 comments
it will pass whatever happens bec the planned it for long time well i wish there citizens the best
These are the same people who've been electing Georgian Dream for over 10 years by fairly large margins.
Not only this, but these people have allowed the jailing of their former President who had done more to bring Georgia closer to the EU, NATO and the west than anyone in its history. You get the government you elect and deserve…
Let Putin and the Russians have this useless country, they don’t deserve any better
Good job Georgia. You joined the club of US and Russia with the Foreign act Law.
US has a more stringent version of this law against foreign agents operating in American soil.
Georgia has the right to defend itself from foreign meddling
So, Georgians can deminstrate violently but students in the US and most of EU cannot demonstrate even peacefully? And Georgians can match to their parliament, but in the US, matchung to congress is "threat to democracy"
Fantastic! Good to see that Georgia has copied the US and has passed similar legislation to expose foreign interference. They surely don't want foreigners to create another color revolution there creating the same chaos as in Ukraine. Next they need to be smart like Austria and Costa Rica and declare neutrality. Stop both the US and Russia from fighting another proxy war within their borders.
Does France have a similar Law?
Good news!
Georgia Government is stupidity over new law under Russia. It is no life and suffering under Putin 👎👎👎
The "No Leader Movement" was also said in Hong Kong, Myanmar, and Ukraine. It has nothing to do with "democracy" but everything to do with "global geopolitics". This model can be used across culture and geography aiming at "regime change" for the "alliance" of WWIII.
Regis said the majority of the people of Georgia oppose this, I've read elsewhere 60% approve. But the vast majority of the demonstrators may not be aware that the US has a stricter version of this law. The legislature will over rid the veto and then will many NGOs in Georgia will have to divulge that they are funded by the NED or the CIA.