Leading players in Georgia’s national men’s football team have backed mass protests sparked by a “foreign influence” bill criticized for mirroring a repressive Russian law, The Guardian reports.
Riot police have clashed in recent nights with large rallies of people protesting outside the parliament building in Tbilisi against the bill, which is viewed in Brussels as a threat to future EU membership.
Jaba Kankava, the captain of Georgia’s national football team, which recently qualified for Euro 2024, its first major tournament, posted a picture on Instagram of two protesters staring down riot police on Tuesday night, adding: “Fuck Russia.”
A host of other national team players, including Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, a winger for Italy’s Serie A club Napoli, and Giorgi Mamardashvili, who is a goalkeeper for Valencia in Spain’s La Liga, also posted what appeared to be coordinated messages on social media.
They wrote: “Georgia’s path is to Europe. The European way unites us!! Forward to Europe!! Peace to Georgia.”
Despite the protests, 83 out of 150 deputies voted in favor of the bill on Wednesday, which must pass two more readings before becoming law. The ruling Georgian Dream party says the legislation is needed to promote transparency and combat “pseudo-liberal values” imposed from abroad.
Georgia’s prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, said he would not back down.
He said: “As for the West, the opposition talked about this as if we consider the West as an enemy. I will repeat once again that transparency is not a criterion for distinguishing between enemies and friends. First of all, of course, a friend should be transparent, this is the friends’ responsibility before the Georgian public.”
