Meanwhile, the Kremlin accuses Washington of stoking anti-Russian sentiment among the thousands who protested against the bill
\n Tbilisi
\nGeorgia\u2019s parliament has dropped plans for a \u201cforeign agents\u201d bill that triggered a major domestic political crisis and threatened to derail the nation\u2019s bid for closer ties with Europe.
\nOn Friday, the bill was voted down in the second reading after only one lawmaker \u2013 out of 36 who voted \u2013 backed the legislation that critics had compared with laws in Russia that authorities have used to silence Moscow\u2019s opponents. The majority of the 112-member parliament abstained from voting.
\nHundreds of anti-government protesters rallied outside the legislature during the vote.
\nTens of thousands of Georgians had taken to the streets in the capital, Tbilisi, for three consecutive nights of protest against the initiative, saying the government was trying to take the country towards autocracy.
\nAl Jazeera\u2019s Bernard Smith reporting from Tblisi said people were \u201cvery pleased\u201d with the bill failing to pass in parliament.
\n\u201cWhen asked if the government will keep its word, people are suspicious of the government. They view it as a pro Russian government,\u201d Smith added.
\n\u201cBut they are very pleased obviously that they got their way. They point to the power of the streets and how it managed to influence the government.\u201d
\nPolice used tear gas, stun grenades and water cannon to disperse the protesters, who had amassed outside parliament in the centre of Tbilisi, detaining dozens in the process.
\nThe bill would have required non-government organisations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register with Georgia\u2019s Justice Ministry as a Foreign Agent.
\nThe governing Georgian Dream party pulled its support for the bill on Thursday, a move that was welcomed by the European Union and the United States.
\nCriticism
\nOpponents said the bill was reminiscent of a 2012 Russian law that the Kremlin has used extensively to crack down on civil society and independent media.
\nThe plans, pushed by the governing party, bolstered domestic criticism of the government as being too close to Moscow, in contrast to Georgian public opinion, which is fiercely anti-Russian.
\nThe government had defended the law as necessary to increase transparency in the funding of non-government organisations and unmask critics of the powerful Georgian Orthodox Church. It rejected comparisons with Russian legislation.
\nThe Kremlin has said it had no involvement whatsoever in the Georgian bill and rejected suggestions that it was Russian-inspired. On Friday it accused the US of stoking anti-Russian sentiment among thousands of protesters who have taken to the streets in Georgia this week.
\n\u201cWe see where the president of Georgia is addressing her people from. She is not making an address from Georgia, she is making an address from America,\u201d Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, accusing \u201csomeone\u2019s visible hand\u201d of stoking \u201canti-Russian\u201d sentiment.
\nThe proposals were widely criticised abroad, with EU officials calling them incompatible with Georgia\u2019s ambition to join the bloc.
\nThe governing party has insisted it remains committed to Georgia\u2019s EU and NATO membership bid, enshrined in the constitution and supported, according to opinion polls, by 80 percent of the population.
\nGeorgia applied for EU membership together with Ukraine and Moldova days after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
\nGeorgian Dream lawmakers said the bill was based on the US\u2019s own Foreign Agents Registration Act, which primarily covers lobbyists working directly for foreign governments.
\nWashington has rejected the comparison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Meanwhile, the Kremlin accuses Washington of stoking anti-Russian sentiment among the thousands who protested against the bill Tbilisi Georgia\u2019s parliament has dropped plans for a \u201cforeign agents\u201d bill that triggered a major domestic political crisis and threatened to derail the nation\u2019s bid for closer ties with Europe. On Friday, the bill was voted down in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-318749","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n