Khabeishvili posted photos of his bloodied face and black eye on platform X.

Thousands of people participated in the protest in front of the parliament building on Tuesday evening. Georgian security forces escalated their crackdown by using water cannons, tear gas, and stun grenades against protesters outside the parliament. This occurred after lawmakers debated a “foreign agents” bill, which is perceived by the opposition and Western nations as authoritarian and inspired by Russia.

The Interior Ministry of Georgia, quoting Deputy Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, announced that 63 individuals were detained and six police officers were injured during the protest against the “foreign agents’ bill” in Tbilisi. This was another demonstration since the ruling party in Georgia, Georgian Dream, resumed the procedure of the law on transparency of foreign influences at the beginning of April. Last year, as a result of mass protests and calls from Western countries, Georgian Dream withdrew from adopting the law. This time, the ruling party is determined to pass a law that, it argues, will ensure the ‘transparency of financing’ of NGOs, the opposition, and the media.

The law, modeled on the Russian one, hence also simply called the ‘Russian law’ or ‘law on foreign agents,’ provides that legal entities and media receiving more than 20% of financial resources from abroad would be subject to registration and reporting and would be included in a special register of foreign influence agents. The Ministry of Justice will be able to control such organizations under any pretext.

Representatives of the U.S., EU, and UN express concern about the resumption of the law and appeal to the Georgian authorities to withdraw from the project. They point out that it is contrary to Georgia’s European aspirations and the Euro-integration process. Georgia, which received EU candidate status in December 2023, may face a choice between democratic standards and control over its opposition and media.