Last night, posters appeared on the offices of opposition parties and non-governmental organizations in Tbilisi, on the cars of oppositionists and activists who oppose the law on foreign agents: "agents", "natsi", "enemies of the nation", "agent headquarters", UNN reports with reference to Novosti Georgia.
Details
The party "Bitter is More Freedom" showed how this happened: the posters were caught on CCTV.
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In addition, according to the newspaper, at least four attacks were committed on Wednesday evening in Tbilisi against activists and opposition representatives and their family members who oppose the law on foreign agents. Unidentified persons were waiting for them in different parts of the city. All of them needed medical care, mostly for head injuries. The attacks were preceded by threatening calls.
What does the government say?
Georgia's Justice Minister Rati Bregadze cynically suggested that the activists themselves were behind the attacks on activists protesting the law on foreign agents.
"I don't even know whether someone beat themselves or whether someone else used physical violence against them... Why do you insist that someone was physically abused by a government supporter or someone else? If anyone can organize such unrest, it is, of course, the people who are behind these rallies and who are organizing a powerful protest in the country," Bregadze said.
The day before, the ruling party announced the creation of public "blacklists" of citizens who are "distinguished by threats and the spread of hate speech on social media" - this refers to opponents of the law on foreign agents and protesters. The co-speaker of the Georgian parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, said that such a list is needed "for general moral condemnation.
Instead, the Public Defender of Georgia demanded that law enforcement agencies immediately investigate the facts of physical reprisals for critical opinions, threats and intimidation of family members.
"These are criminal acts that require an immediate and effective response. Each such violence by the state must be met with a strict and appropriate response, so that such cases do not take the form of mass organized persecution," Levan Yoseliani warned.
Context
On May 1, the Parliament of Georgia voted in favor of the law "On Transparency of Foreign Influence" in the second reading.
In the evening of that day, thousands of people gathered near the Georgian parliament, demanding the withdrawal of the law, which was popularly nicknamed "Russian". According to local media reports, riot police used water cannons and tear gas against demonstrators at the building's official entrances. There were also reports of the use of rubber bullets.
A total of 15 people were hospitalized in Georgia during the dispersal of a rally near the parliament in Tbilisi on May 1-2, including law enforcement officers.
Recall
More than 30 MEPs called on European Commission Vice-President and EU Diplomacy Chief Josep Borrell to suspend Georgia's EU candidate status.