TBILISI: Tens of thousands of Georgians descended onto Tbilisi's Europe Square on Saturday (May 11) in the latest mass protest against a "foreign influence" Bill likened to repressive Russian legis
The Caucasus country has been gripped by protests since early April, when in a shock move billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili's ruling Georgia n Dream party brought the Bill back a year after dropping it.
Georgian Dream has defended the Bill, saying it will increase transparency over NGOs' foreign funding. It says it aims to sign the measure into law by mid-May. The protests have been led by the youngest generations and are heavy in anti-Kremlin slogans, with young Georgians worried authorities are bringing the ex-Soviet country back under Russia's orbit."But we see that our government is taking us in the Russian direction."Saturday's rally came after days of what activists called an intimidation campaign.
Many protesters also believed that authorities want to rush the Bill to prepare the ground for an autumn election.
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