(1 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tbilisi, Georgia – 1 May 2024
1. Wide of protesters and police
2. Wide of police guarding Parliament entrance
3. Close of protester facing off against police
4. Protesters blocking Parliament entrance
5. Close of protesters chanting UPSOUND (Georgian) "Rats"
6. Various of riot police
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Elene Khoshtaria, opposition Droa party leader:
"Well, I think it’s not just about the law. The oligarch has made it clear it’s a geopolitical shift by Georgian Dream to drag back Georgia into Russian influence and to close the (country’s) European future. But the thing is that the majority of this country wants the opposite. We want to be part of the EU. So that’s why they need to be extremely authoritarian, totalitarian, violent against the people, but it has its limits. You cannot rule the country which is against you all the time. And I think the readiness of people to fight for their freedom, to fight for their European future, is so high that we will definitely overcome and we will definitely defend our freedom no matter how long it takes. We will protest, and we will win."
8. Protesters hanging Georgian and EU flags from balcony
9. Various of rally
STORYLINE:
Tens of thousands of people rallied in Tbilisi on Wednesday as Georgia’s parliament adopts a controversial law in its second reading which critics accuse of limiting media freedom.
The new law would require media and non-commercial organizations to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of funding from abroad.
Protesters denounce it as “the Russian law” because Moscow uses similar legislation to stigmatize independent news media and organizations critical of the Kremlin.
Protesters also say the bill would derail Georgia’s integration with the European Union, which granted it candidate status in December. The ruling party proposed a similar law last year but withdrew it after tens of thousands of demonstrators protested.
"The oligarch has made it clear it’s a geopolitical shift by Georgian Dream to drag back Georgia into Russian influence and to close the European future. But the thing is that the majority of this country wants the opposite. We want to be part of the EU," said opposition leader Helene Khoshtaria.
"You cannot rule the country which is against you all the time. And I think the readiness of people to fight for their freedom, to fight for their European future, is so high that we will definitely overcome and we will definitely defend our freedom no matter how long it takes. We will protest, and we will win," she added.
On Tuesday, dozens of people were arrested and an opposition leader was seen bandaged and bruised, after police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the overnight protest outside Parliament.
Russia-Georgia relations have been complicated and turbulent since the Soviet Union’s collapse in the early 1990s. Georgia joined international resolutions condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but it also became a main destination for Russians fleeing military mobilization and political crackdowns. Even Georgia’s ruling party has seen internal tensions over Russia.
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