Georgian president vows to veto law on 'foreign agents' amid mass protests

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has promised to veto the law on "foreign agents" if it is finally adopted, UNN reports citing Novosti Georgia.

Details

"I will veto this law, as I have done with other laws that contradict the strategy and recommendations of the European Union," Zurabishvili said in an interview with the BBC.

The President believes that the veto should be used to make "the voice of the people heard." At the same time, Zurabishvili is confident that the parliamentary majority will override it.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has already commented on this statement. "Salome Zurabishvili is an agent of foreign influence herself. Accordingly, the only voice that Salome Zurabishvili represents is the corresponding foreign force, the global party of war," Kobakhidze said.

On Wednesday, the Georgian parliament approved in the first reading a bill on foreign agents, which had been opposed by Western partners. The EU and the US have explicitly stated that this step will hinder the country's integration into the EU. According to Kobakhidze, the West's criticism is "devoid of arguments." The authorities intend to pass the law anyway.

On Wednesday, after the bill was passed in the first reading, even more people came to the protest than in previous days, the BBC reports. The large-scale protest traditionally began near the parliament building on Rustaveli Avenue in the center of Tbilisi.

"The third night of dignified protest against the adoption of the Russian law! On the one hand, the people of Georgia, on the other, 83 MPs who voted against our European future. The people always win!" wrote Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili on social networking site X.

The rally near the parliament on Wednesday lasted until late at night.

On the third day of the protests, the organizers of the action issued an ultimatum to the authorities: to make a political statement on the withdrawal of the draft law, which they call the "Russian law." After the ultimatum expired, some of the protesters moved from Rustaveli Avenue to the government office building at the call of the organizers, demanding a meeting with Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze.

Among those who came to the office were representatives of opposition parties. The situation escalated several times. The footage distributed by the Mtavari TV channel shows police forcibly putting opposition MP Aleko Elisashvili into a police car and taking him away. The country's Interior Ministry announced the detention of two people for administrative violations. According to the Ministry, a cold weapon was seized from one of the detainees.

The leader of the Agmashenebeli Strategy party, Giorgi Vashadze, called it a provocation by the authorities on the air of the Formula TV company. "They are going for this type of provocation to somehow make people angry, but we continue our peaceful struggle," he said.

A day earlier, the Interior Ministry used pepper spray against protesters at the parliament. The reason for the use of special means was to stop the physical confrontation, saying that the protesters had been throwing bottles and stones at the police. Footage from the scene showed riot police using force against demonstrators. Three journalists were among those injured by riot police.

Addendum

The draft law was considered against the backdrop of thousands of protests.

Last year in March, the ruling Georgian Dream party withdrew the draft law "On Transparency of Foreign Influence" in the second reading due to large-scale protests. At the time, party representatives stated that the issue had been removed from the agenda and that they did not plan to reconsider the bill.

A year later, it was reintroduced to the parliament with the only difference being that the term "agent of foreign influence" was replaced with the wording "organization that pursues the interests of a foreign power.