Georgia's ruling party stages mass rally to counter anti-government protests

Issued on: 30/04/2024 - 00:58

2 min

The Black Sea Caucasus nation has been gripped by mass anti-government protests since mid-April, when the ruling Georgian Dream party reintroduced plans to pass a law that critics say resembles Russian legislation used to silence dissent.

The European Union has said that, if adopted, the proposed legislation would undermine Tbilisi's long-standing bid for EU membership.

The latest demonstration against the measure saw some 20,000 people gather on Sunday in a kilometre-long "March for Europe" in the capital Tbilisi.

On Monday evening, thousands of people congregated outside parliament in a rally organised by the ruling party, amid widespread reports that government employees were being forced to attend.

"Today, a 'Putintype' action: civil servants bussed to Tbilisi to applaud ruling party's decisions," Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili -- who is at loggerheads with the ruling party -- said on X, formerly Twitter.

Georgian television stations broadcast images of people being taken to Tbilisi on Georgian Dream busses.

In a rare public appearance, powerful billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili -- the ruling party chairman who is widely believed to be calling the shots in Georgia -- addressed the crowd.

He defended the bill as aiming to boost transparency of the foreign funding of civil groups, saying that "non-transparent funding of NGOs is the main instrument for the appointment of a Georgian government from abroad."

'I will lose my job' 

"I am a soldier of the Georgian Dream, that's why I am here," 56-year-old gas station operator, Mamuka Tsiskaridze told AFP. "I am here to defend traditional values, our Christian faith."

But another demonstrator, who declined to give his name, said he opposes the Georgian Dream-proposed legislation.

"My village mayor told me I will lose my job if I don't go to Tbilisi (for the rally)," he added.

Anti-government rallies were held on Monday in the country's second-largest city of Batumi and the main city of Georgia's western Megrelia region, Zugdidi, independent TV station Pirveli reported.

Parliament's legal affairs committee said that the legislature would vote on the draft law's second reading at a plenary session on Tuesday.

If adopted, the law would require any independent NGO and media organisation receiving more than 20 percent of its funding from abroad to register as an "organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power".

Last year, a wave of anti-government protests -- during which police used tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators -- forced Georgian Dream to drop similar legislation.

Police have again clashed with protesters during the latest rallies.

Georgia's bid for membership of the EU and NATO is enshrined in its constitution and -- according to opinion polls -- supported by more than 80 percent of the population.

Georgian Dream insists it is staunchly pro-European and that the proposed law only aims to "boost transparency" of the foreign funding of NGOs.

But critics accuse it of steering the former Soviet republic towards closer ties with Russia.

EU chief Charles Michel has said the bill "is not consistent with Georgia's bid for EU membership" and that it "will bring Georgia further away from the EU and not closer."

In December, the EU granted Georgia official candidate status, but said Tbilisi will have to reform its judicial and electoral systems, reduce political polarisation, improve press freedom and curtail the power of oligarchs, before membership talks can be formally launched.

(AFP)