They want to defend the European future of Georgia.

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated again on Wednesday March 8 in the capital, Tbilisi, against a controversial bill targeting the media and NGOs.

The day before, clashes had broken out between opponents and police.

Security forces used water cannons and tear gas to try to disperse the crowd.

In the city center, flags of Georgia and the European Union were waved by the demonstrators, gathered in front of the national Parliament, according to an AFP journalist.

"No to Russian law!" Chanted the crowd gathered at the call of several NGOs and opposition groups - a reference to the bill adopted on Tuesday at first reading by Georgian deputies.

This text provides that organizations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad are obliged to register as "foreign agents", under penalty of fines.

>> To read on France 24.com: How Moscow uses the status of "foreign agents" to harass opponents

According to its critics, this project is modeled on a law passed in Russia in 2012 and which the Kremlin has since used to suppress the media and critical voices.

"This law is absolutely unconstitutional and goes against the will of the Georgian people to become a member of the EU", criticizes Badri Okoujava, a 26-year-old historian.

The shadow of Moscow

Georgia, a small country in the Caucasus, aims to join the European Union (EU).

She filed her candidacy with Ukraine and Moldova a few days after the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory on February 24, 2022. In June, the EU had requested that Georgia carry out several reforms before obtaining candidate status. .

Several government moves have recently cast a shadow over those aspirations and raised doubts about his ties to the Kremlin.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibachvili said his policy towards Moscow was "balanced" and aimed at ensuring "peace and stability".

In recent years, authorities in this former Soviet republic have faced growing international criticism over an alleged rollback of democracy that has damaged Tbilisi's ties with Brussels.

The main opposition party in Georgia called for demonstrations again on Wednesday in Tbilisi.

"From 3 p.m., the Georgians will meet on Rustaveli Avenue and this will continue every day (...) until victory," said Nika Melia, figure of the United National Movement (UNM), an opposition party created by imprisoned ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.

09:04

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has supported the movement: the Ukrainian president said on Wednesday that he wished “democratic success” for the demonstrators in Georgia.

"There is not a Ukrainian who does not wish success to our friend Georgia. Democratic success. European success," he said in his daily address.

"All free nations in Europe deserve" to be part of the European Union, he argued, as kyiv and Tbilisi aspire to join the EU.

With AFP

The summary of the

France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 app