Georgia shakes with protests as government promotes Putin-style 'foreign agent' bill

CNN
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After spending his days making wine in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, Tsotne Jafaridze returns to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, to start a new life. He packs goggles, a gas mask, and enough water and snacks to last him several hours. He has another long night ahead of him.

Jafaridze has gathered outside parliament every night for the past month, facing tear gas and water cannon from increasingly violent police, threatening to undermine efforts to join and promote European Union membership. He is one of the thousands of Georgians who have protested against the bill. Deeper into the Kremlin's orbit.

“This has become my daily routine,” he told CNN. “If we don't protect freedom now, the future of our Europe and the West, tomorrow we will wake up in Russia. That's it.”

The ruling Georgian Dream party is pushing through a “foreign agent” law, which critics liken to measures introduced by Russian President Vladimir Putin to crush dissent. The bill, which passed on the second of three votes, would require organizations in the former Soviet Union country that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “foreign agents” and would otherwise be required to register as “foreign agents.” Failure to do so will result in heavy fines.

Jafaridze also runs a travel business, from which he receives 95% of his income. Information from foreign sources said he would be listed as a foreign agent “immediately” under the broadly written law. But critics say the bill's intended target is not business owners like him, but Georgia's Georgians ahead of October's election, when the unpopular Georgian Dream is desperate to stay in power. They claim to be independent media and civil society organizations.

Georgia's government tried to pass the same law last year, but was forced into an embarrassing humiliation after a week of intense deliberation. There were protests in which citizens waving EU flags were hit back with water cannons. In a move widely seen as an effort to reward Georgians (about 80% support membership) and reverse the tilt toward Russia, the EU granted Georgia candidate status in December. Ta.

Nathalie Savanadze, Georgia's former ambassador to the EU, told CNN: “These photos are likely to put moral pressure on the city of Brussels to reward these people, even though the government's performance is not good. At that time, he could not even imagine running for office.''

However, the government reintroduced the same bill in March and appears determined to force it through despite protests that have grown more intense each week.

As protests intensify, police response also intensifies. Opposition United National Movement Party leader Levan Habeishvili said he was severely assaulted on Tuesday night and shared a photo of his swollen and blackened face. Haveishvili told CNN that during an interview outside parliament, he saw a young man being detained by police. And tried to intervene.

“At that moment, they grabbed me, dragged me in and assaulted me,” he said during the ordeal, which lasted about 15 minutes. “They said I was talking too much and they would prevent me from speaking any more.'' The next day, Mr Habeishvili was seen addressing parliament with a bandage on his face.

Et Budhiashvili, a former adviser to Georgia's National Security Council who has participated in most protests, said police became “extraordinarily brutal” on Tuesday night. “I saw a lot of law enforcement officers not wearing identifying marks,” she told CNN. They were beating people and I didn't know they were with the police. This is very dangerous. ”

Several demonstrators told CNN that the tear gas used was significantly more powerful than before, making it difficult to breathe and forcing demonstrators to briefly disperse and regroup. It is said that it was done. Many people fled to the park on April 9th. The park was named after the night in 1989 when Soviet troops tried to suppress pro-independence protests, killing 21 people and injuring hundreds. Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union just two years later.

Many Georgians harbor deep animosity toward Russia, which invaded Georgia in 2008 and occupies about 20% of Georgia's internationally recognized territory (about the same proportion as Ukraine). Despite Russia's recent invasion of Georgia, Georgian Dream has long been accused of harboring pro-Russian sentiments, and its founder, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, made his fortune in the Soviet Union. .

“Many people do not believe that a person who earns billions in Russia can just be expelled from Russia without any promises,” Buzhiashvili said. Many Georgians describe Ivanishvili as a “puppet master” and believe most elected officials are dancing to his tunes.

Ivanishvili, once a leading politician but now a recluse, made a rare appearance on Monday night after thousands of people from rural Georgia were brought to Tbilisi by bus. He then addressed Tbilisi, where Georgian Dream has more support.

His speeches displayed severe paranoia and conspiracism, and had authoritarian tendencies. Mr. Ivanishvili claimed that Georgia was ruled by a “foreign-raised pseudo-elite.” He claimed that the world was run by a “world war party” and suggested that this party was responsible for the 2008 invasion of Russia. And after October's election, he promised to persecute his political opponents.

“The Georgian government is clearly pro-Putin and on the side of the world's illiberal forces,” said Sabanandze, a former EU ambassador. “It's turning into a tool in Russia's hands. We can't speculate. We don't know if they're working on Russian instructions, but we know they're realizing their own interests. I’m sure.”

Amid growing protests in Tbilisi, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze also attended the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) gathering in Hungary. In his speech, Kobakhidze condemned the “so-called liberals” protesting outside parliament, saying they were attacking “the homeland, the language and the faith.” Savanadze noted that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Europe's longest-serving leader, has appealed to governments trying to stay in power.

The United States has criticized Georgia's recent policy change. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the Foreign Agents Act and Georgian Dream's “anti-Western rhetoric have put Georgia on a destabilizing trajectory.”

Kobakhidze hit back at US criticism, accusing the US on Friday of trying to start a revolution in Georgia “through externally funded NGOs.”

Some are wondering why Georgian Dream reintroduced the foreign agent bill almost exactly a year after it was initially defeated. In his speech, Ivanishvili explained that he had calculated this moment “perfectly.” By introducing this bill now, he hoped, the protesters' energy would be “prematurely wasted” and their strength “depleted” by October.

In an interesting parallel, Ivanishvili said he is not like former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, who was overthrown in the 2014 Maidan protests in which thousands of Ukrainians demanded a future in Europe. The scene resembles that of Tbilisi today.

“He believes that the situation here is different, that he has more control and that he will not allow such a Maidan to happen in Georgia,” Savanadze said. “But he may be underestimating the public's anger.”

With the protests showing no signs of slowing down, some wonder if they could turn into something akin to revolution. “If the government does not withdraw this bill now, while they still have a chance, it will be difficult for them to go to elections. It's a spiral at the moment,” Savanadze said.

Winemaker Jafaridze says he has never seen the country so united. “I think it's impossible to beat these guys. This is not Belarus. This is not Russia.”