Georgia’s human rights ombudsman, Levan Ioselian, has since issued a statement condemning the police response as having “contradicted the standard of necessary and proportionate intervention.” The public defender called for an investigation into the use of “disproportionate force” and apparent targeting of journalists covering the events.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Tbilisi, Georgian Dream politician Kakha Kaladze, blamed protesters for having blocked the entrances and exits to parliament. “Radicals do this, and then they sometimes sneak away and leave the young people in front of the police,” he alleged, providing no evidence for his claims.
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, decried “the violence against protesters in Georgia who were peacefully demonstrating against the law on foreign influence.” He urged the ruling Georgian Dream party to ensure the right to peaceful assembly is respected and insisted that “use of force to suppress it is unacceptable.”
Georgia was granted EU candidate status by the European Commission in December, despite warnings that it was at risk of backsliding on key human rights issues and had not implemented the reforms set out by Brussels. The bloc’s enlargement chief, Gert Jan Koopman, arrived in Tbilisi on Wednesday morning as part of a scheduled visit, with MEPs urging him to announce the withdrawal of the South Caucasus nation’s candidate status.
The foreign agent bill, initially proposed last year, was shelved by the government after major protests and international outcry, with Brussels saying the rules would contradict European values.
However, at a rally on Monday night, the ruling party doubled down on its plans, which it said were essential to protect the country from overseas influence and “LGBT propaganda.” The measures would require NGOs and media outlets that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence, which critics say mirrors legislation used by neighboring Russia to suppress civil society.
