It appears someone is trying to spark a Maidan-style color revolution in Georgia. Thousands of protesters have been demonstrating at Georgia’s parliament building in Tbilisi. Protesters in some cases are wearing gas masks and helmets, and some have been throwing Molotov cocktails and fireworks at police. They currently have the building blockaded, and may have the entire building surrounded.
The demonstrations are supposedly a response to a new law requiring NGO’s that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad, to be registered as foreign agents. Opponents have called this a “Russian"-style law, and it has been spoken of going against Georgia’s “European course"—a clear indication of the kind of color revolution that is intended. There has also been agitation around the release of former Georgian president Mikheill Sakashvilli, still imprisoned in Georgia. The US embassy has come out in support of the protesters, saying that the imposition of the “foreign agents” law is a “dark day for democracy” in Georgia. The embassy also mulled the possibility of imposing sanctions on Georgia for suppressing the protests.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Tuesday in response to the protests: “I want to tell everyone that the time when politicians and authorities served the interests of foreign countries is over in [our] country. We serve the interests of Georgia. Everyone should remember this well, and not try to interfere in the internal affairs of our country.”
After the protests continued to grow, on Thursday the governing coalition withdrew the bill in an effort to tone them down. A statement announcing the withdrawal said, “The machine of lies was able to present the bill in a negative light and mislead a certain part of the public.” The opposition, however, released a joint statement in response, saying that the protests would continue nonetheless, “because there are many young people who do not trust Georgian Dream [the governing party].”
