Photo: Collected
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Wednesday (1 May) condemned violence against protesters in Tbilisi who were "peacefully demonstrating" against a controversial bill on foreign agents and called on the country's authorities to ensure the right to peaceful assembly.
Protests have continued in the Georgian capital for nearly two weeks, with the latest rally taking place on Tuesday. The Georgian police used pepper spray, water cannons and rubber bullets against demonstrators to disperse the rally on Rustaveli Avenue.
"I strongly condemn the violence against protesters in Georgia who were peacefully demonstrating against the law on foreign influence. Georgia is an EU candidate country. I call on its authorities to ensure the right to peaceful assembly. Use of force to suppress it is unacceptable," Borrell said on X.
Earlier in the day, Georgian Deputy Interior Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze said that 63 people had been detained during the protests and six police officers had been seriously injured and hospitalized after the demonstrators threw bottles, stones and other heavy objects at them. At the same time, Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party and the mayor of Tbilisi, Kakha Kaladze, thanked the interior ministry for preventing unrest during the protests, adding that protesters "carried out aggressive attacks on police officers."
The controversial bill that sparked the protests in mid-April seeks to limit the influence of entities in Georgia receiving funding from abroad. It was initially submitted to parliament in February 2023, but was withdrawn the following month amid a wave of protests and pressure from Western countries. After revision, the draft law replaced the term "foreign influence agent" with an "organization promoting the interests of a foreign power," while the rest of the content remained the same.
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