TBILISI: Georgia's ruling party said on Thursday it was dropping a bill on "foreign agents" after two nights of violent protests against what opponents said was a Russian-inspired authoritarian shift that imperilled hopes of the country joining the European Union.
The Georgian Dream ruling party said in a statement it would "unconditionally withdraw the bill we supported, without any reservations". It cited the need to reduce "confrontation" in society, while also denouncing "lies" told about the bill by the "radical opposition".
However, opposition leaders said the protests would resume at 7 pm Giga Lemonjava, a representative of the Droa party, said they were demanding that the government formally denounce the bill and release all those detained during the protests.
The Black Sea country of 3.7 million people has seen frequent political upheaval since winning independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, including a peaceful "Rose Revolution" in 2003 and a calamitous war against Russia five years later.
The bill would have required Georgian organisations receiving more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad to register as "foreign agents" or face fines.
'FOREIGN INFLUENCE'
Government officials said the proposals were necessary to root out "foreign influence" and "spies" from Georgia's political scene, arguing that Georgians had the right to know who funds non-government organisations working there.
The opposition said it was a local version of a Russian law that President Vladimir Putin has used to crush dissent for more than a decade.
"It was a Russian law that had to be recalled and should not have gone through parliament under any conditions", said Nika Oboladze, a 32-year-old Tbilisi resident.
"Those who proposed the law are responsible for all this mess. Because 90 per cent of Georgians support European integration and nothing should stop that," he added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was "concerned" by events in Tbilisi, and said that the Georgian bill bore no relation to Russian laws.
"The Kremlin didn't inspire anything there, the Kremlin has absolutely nothing to do with it. ... If I understand it correctly, one version was very similar to an equivalent law in the United States," Peskov said. — Reuters
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