Participants in the protest rally in Tbilisi against the bill on foreign agents in front of the parliament tore the Russian flag and tried to set it on fire. The protest near the parliament building against the bill on foreign agents has already ended, TASS reported.
Several dozen protesters still remain on Rustaveli Boulevard. There are also police officers there who told the protesters that city officials will soon come out to the driveway and clear the roadway.
The end of the rally was preceded by the appearance of special forces, who pushed back the protesters, who were concentrated on 9 April and Chichinadze streets and erected barricades in front of the gates of the official entrances of the parliament. Law enforcement officers detained several people.
Several thousand people protested outside the parliament on Wednesday evening. The rally turned into clashes with the police. Part of the demonstrators settled at the official entrance of the parliament on "9 April" street. and began to shake the gates. The special forces, which are located in the courtyard of the parliament building, began to use tear gas and pepper spray, as well as water jets against them. Stones, bottles and firecrackers were thrown at the police.
The Parliament of Georgia on Wednesday supported in the second reading the bill "On the transparency of foreign influence", which was opposed by the country's president Salome Zurabishvili, the opposition and Western diplomats, who consider it an obstacle to the integration of the republic in The European Union. Since April 15, the opposition and civil activists have been holding rallies against the bill in Tbilisi.
Party "Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia" in early April announced his decision to reintroduce the bill to parliament. This comes a year after a similar initiative led to mass protests, forcing the authorities to abandon the bill. Its text remained the same as last year, except for the term “agent of foreign influence”. Instead, the term “organization that protects the interests of a foreign power“ is used.