“We will never surrender!”: Georgians protest after “foreign agents” bill passes 2nd reading

Thousands of demonstrators blocked a key intersection in Georgia's capital of Tbilisi on Thursday, as protests against a law on "foreign agents" in the country continue. The bill, which would require organizations receiving more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence, has sparked a political crisis in the South Caucasus country.

“We’ve been protesting this law since 2023. We’ve been there and we are here today unfortunately. But we will be there until the law drops, because we know what the European values are and we choose Europe. So we will never surrender,” 21-year-old local resident and protester Yelena said.

Georgian critics have dubbed the bill "the Russian law", saying it is inspired by laws used to suppress dissent in Vladimir Putin's Russia. Russia is unpopular among many citizens of Georgia, which lost a brief war with Moscow in 2008.

On Wednesday, Georgia's parliament approved the second reading of the bill on "foreign agents," which has been criticized as Kremlin-inspired. The Georgian parliament is expected to consider the bill in a third reading in around two weeks.

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