Georgia Ruling Party Stages Mass Rally To Counter Protests

Georgia's ruling party bussed in thousands of people from across the country on Monday for a rally in the capital aimed at countering days of mass anti-government protests over a controversial "foreign influence" bill

Tbilisi, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Apr, 2024) Georgia's ruling party bussed in thousands of people from across the country on Monday for a rally in the capital aimed at countering days of mass anti-government protests over a controversial "foreign influence" bill.

The Black Sea Caucasus nation has been gripped by mass anti-government protests since mid-April, when the ruling Georgian Dream party reintroduced plans to pass a law that critics say resembles Russian legislation used to silence dissent.

The European Union has said that, if adopted, the proposed legislation would undermine Tbilisi's long-standing bid for EU membership.

The latest demonstration against the measure saw some 20,000 people on Sunday in a kilometre-long "March for Europe" in the capital Tbilisi.

On Monday evening, thousands of people gathered outside parliament in a rally organised by the ruling party, amid widespread reports that government employees were being forced to attend.

Georgian television stations broadcast images of people being taken to Tbilisi on Georgian Dream busses.

"We urge patriots from across the country to gather and say no to revolutions funded by dirty money, attacks on the church,.. LGBT propaganda, propaganda of narcotics, the discreditation of state institutions, radicalism, and polarisation," the party said in a statement.

In a rare public appearance, powerful billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili -- the ruling party chairman who is widely believed to be calling the shots in Georgia -- is expected to address the crowd.

Parliament's legal affairs committee announced that the legislature will vote on the draft law's second reading at a plenary session on Tuesday.

Last year, a wave of anti-government protests -- during which police used tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators -- forced Georgian Dream to drop similar legislation.

Police have again clashed with protesters during the latest rallies.

Georgian Dream insists it is staunchly pro-European and that the proposed law only aims to "boost transparency" of the foreign funding of NGOs.

But critics accuse it of steering the former Soviet republic toward closer ties with Russia.

EU chief Charles Michel has said the bill "is not consistent" with Georgia's bid for EU membership" and that it "will bring Georgia further away from the EU and not closer."

In December, the EU granted Georgia official candidate status, but said Tbilisi will have to reform its judicial and electoral systems, reduce political polarisation, improve press freedom and curtail the power of oligarchs, before membership talks can be formally launched.