Tens of thousands rally in Tbilisi denouncing bill dubbed 'the Russian law' by critics

(11 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tbilsi, Georgia - 11 May 2024
++INCLUDES NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Wide of protesters marching
2. Wide of protesters marching in front of the Parliament building
3. Close of protesters wrapped in EU and Georgian flags
4. Mid of protesters chanting UPSOUND (Georgian): "Georgia"
5. Wide of protesters marching
6. Mid of protesters
++NIGHT SHOTS++
7. Various of protesters marching
8. Wide of protesters marching
STORYLINE:
Thousands of people marched through the streets of Tbilisi, Georgia on Saturday to mark Europe Day and denounce the proposed law on the transparency of foreign influence.
If the law is adopted, it will require media and non-commercial organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their annual budget from overseas to be registered as organizations pursuing the interests of a foreign power.
The opposition denounces the bill as “the Russian law” because Moscow uses similar legislation to stigmatize independent news media and organizations critical of the Kremlin. They fear it will become an obstacle to Georgia's EU aspirations, silence free media, and return Georgia to the Russian orbit.
Georgian Dream, the party in power, argues the bill is necessary to discern what it deems as harmful foreign influence, and to prevent unidentified foreign actors from trying to destabilize the country’s political scene.
The Georgian Parliament is set to discuss the bill in final reading on Monday.
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[@robertgouw396]

The USA has a "Foreign Agents Act" where USA citizens must register when they are working for the interests of a foreign government. Ron DeSantis's press secretary Christina Pushaw had to register when she was making payments to Mikheil Saakashvili the President of Georgia from 2004 - 2013 after that the USA installed him as Mayor Govenor of Odessa in Ukraine. Just in time for the "Odessa Massacre" and the Maidan Coup. It's no wonder that Georgia imprisoned its former president Mikheil Saakashvili and now would like a law to prevent the USA and EU from staging a Coup in Georgia. Which you can see is underway.