Tens of thousands of Georgians have been protesting for two straight days against what they see as a lurch into authoritarianism on the part of the ruling government.
TBILISI, Georgia — Tens of thousands of Georgians occupied the main thoroughfare of the capital, Tbilisi, for the second night in a row Wednesday, holding EU flags and posters protesting a Russian-style draft law that would label some nongovernmental groups and media outlets “foreign agents.” The law is seen as an attempt to suppress civil society and amplify the Georgian government’s propaganda that Western partners are not acting in the interests of Georgians.
Authorities have been using water cannons and tear gas against demonstrators, many of whom they have also arrested. Despite attempts to clear the streets, protesters kept going back until dawn., stating that “as the emotional background subsides, we will better explain to the public what the bill was for and why it was important to ensure transparency of foreign influence in our country.” Protests are nevertheless set to continue for a third night.
Russia, which has a similar law, looms large in the debate. In 2008, Russia invaded Georgia, a small, mountainous country with about 3.7 million people, and set up breakaway republics loyal to Moscow in South Abkhazia and Ossetia. It was a tactic that Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, would repeat in Ukraine years later.The Georgian government has leveraged Georgians’ fear of another armed conflict with their stronger neighbor.
“This protest is not just about law,” Vasil Matitaishvili, the campaign manager of European Georgia, an opposition party, told Yahoo News. “It’s about the choice of every generation of Georgians and our identity. Western civilization, the free world, is our home. This Putin-inspired law is an ugly finale of this government's persistent, yearslong trajectory.”
Bidzina Ivanishvili, the Georgian oligarch who heads the party and was prime minister at the time, adopted a policy of strategic ambiguity: advocating EU membership while also avoiding antagonizing Moscow. All the while, the party shuttered independent media and arrested political opponents.
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