Georgia’s parliament scrapped a bill on “foreign agents” on Friday, sparking a major domestic political crisis and jeopardizing the Caucasian nation’s efforts to strengthen ties with Europe, Reuters reported.

On Friday, deputies voted against the bill in the second reading after the ruling Georgian Dream party withdrew its support for the bill, according to the website of the Georgian Parliament.

Tens of thousands of Georgians took to the streets of the capital Tbilisi for three nights in a row to protest the initiative, saying the government was trying to push the country further into dictatorship.

Police fired tear gas, grenades and water cannons to disperse protesters who had gathered outside Tbilisi’s parliament, detaining dozens of people.

The bill required NGOs that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register with the country’s Justice Department as foreign agents.

Opponents said it was reminiscent of a 2012 Russian law that the Kremlin has actively used to suppress civil society and independent media.

The initiative, put forward by the ruling Georgian Dream party, has fueled domestic criticism of the government as too close to Moscow, in contrast to Georgian public opinion, which is strongly anti-Russian.