Thousands of people today took part in mass demonstrations in Tbilisi for the second day in a row against the “foreign agents” law, which critics say marks an authoritarian turn that undermines Georgia’s chances for closer ties with Europe.

The Georgian parliament yesterday approved in first reading a law that requires any organization that receives more than 20% of its funding from abroad to register as a “foreign agent” or face significant fines.

The ruling Georgian Dream party says it is modeled after 1930s American law, and its critics, including President Salome Zurabivili, say it resembles a Russian law used by the Kremlin to stifle dissent.

In violent clashes that evening, protesters threw Molotov cocktails and stones at police officers, who used tear gas and water pumps to disperse the crowd. The interior ministry said 66 people were arrested.

The protests resumed in the afternoon with a march marking International Women’s Day.

The demonstrators carried the flags of Georgia and the EU along the main Rustaveli Avenue towards the parliament, chanting “No to the Russian law”.

Opposition parties have called for a second night of mass demonstrations outside the parliament building.

Now it has deepened the rift between the Georgian Dream party, which leads the government and has a majority in parliament, and President Zurabishvili, a pro-European woman who distanced herself from the party after being elected with his backing in 2018.

She expressed support for the protesters, saying yesterday that the lawmakers who passed the bill violated the constitution. She also vowed to veto the bill if it came to her desk, although parliament could override any presidential veto.

Critics say that Georgian Dream is too close to Russia and has led the country to escalate repression in recent years. Georgian society is bitterly anti-Moscow after years of conflict with Russia over the status of the Moscow-backed breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Georgian Dream Chairman Irakli Kobakhindze again defended the bill today, saying it would help eradicate those who work against the interests of the country and the powerful Georgian Orthodox Church. He criticized the Georgian “radical opposition” for inciting protesters to “unprecedented violence” during yesterday’s rallies.

“The adoption of this ‘foreign influence’ law is incompatible with the path to the EU that the majority in Georgia wants,” European Council President Charles Michel tweeted.

Last year, Brussels rejected Georgia’s attempts to become an EU candidate country, saying it must accelerate reforms in areas such as the rule of law, freedom of the media and an independent judiciary.

Source: APE-MPE, Reuters.