European Parliament to vote on a resolution on Georgia’s law on “foreign influence”

For the last 10 days, thousands of Georgians – many in their late teens and early 20s – have been bringing the traffic of the capital, Tbilisi, to a standstill.

They demand that the government scrap plans to introduce a controversial bill – dubbed the “foreign agent” law – many say is inspired by authoritarian legislation neighboring Russia uses to crush dissent.

On 17 April, parliament passed the bill in its first reading – the first of three barriers it must overcome before becoming law.

Under the bill proposed by the ruling Georgian Dream party – which has been in power for the last 12 years – NGOs and independent media that receive more than 20% of their funding from foreign donors would have to register as organizations “bearing the interests of a foreign power”.