GEORGIA Tbilisi on the brink of civil war

Protests in the streets against the approval of the “foreign agents” law. The procedure has been suspended for the time being. Opponents condemn the pro-Russian line of the current Georgian Dream government. The measure distances the country from joining the EU. The weight of the Russian war against Ukraine. The crisis could worsen.

Moscow () – Clashes in the streets of Georgia show no sign of abating after the first reading approval of the law “on the transparency of foreign influence”, which the opposition accuses of representing a decision to align with Russia and rejection of Europe, while the war in Ukraine continues. In the center of the capital, in front of the Parliament, the forces of order used tear gas, water jets and other means to suppress the protests, which had already led to the arrest of 66 people.

In view of the demonstrations, the majority parties have decided to suspend subsequent voting for the time being. However, the Georgian Minister of the Interior continues to threaten very serious consequences for the protesters, against whom accusations of all kinds are being leveled, from vandalism and resistance to public officials, to terrorism and subversion, assuring that “the actions of those who fomented the peaceful protest until it becomes a massive violent action will be legally evaluated accordingly”. Dozens of policemen were injured as well as numerous demonstrators.

The US embassy in Tbilisi has spoken of “black days for Georgian democracy”, denying that the approved law is analogous to the “Fara”, the rule on foreign agents in the US, and comparing it directly with the increasingly repressive Russian law in the last year. The statement from the diplomatic headquarters states that “the approval by Parliament of laws inspired by the Kremlin is incompatible with the aspirations of the people of Georgia for European integration and its democratic development, in addition to damaging relations with strategic partners and destroying the important work of so many Georgian organizations, who work to help their citizens.”

Despite criticism from Europe and all Western countries, protests from the opposition and humanitarian activists from across society, the ruling Georgian Dream party has decided to proceed quickly with the passage of the controversial law, bringing it forward two days. Many opposition MPs left Parliament to join the protesters, and the vote was carried out under tight security, preventing journalists and activists, and even some opposition members, from being present, further escalating the tensions.

The parliamentary session had already started in a heated atmosphere, with wild shouting and insults from one side to the other, in particular by the ultranationalist deputies from the People’s Force group, David Khundadze and Guram Macarašvili, while the ruling former soccer player Mikhail Kavelashvili physically launched himself at his opponent Georgij Vašadze when the latter advised him to “play football again”. The members of the Georgian Dream themselves contributed to increasing tensions, hijacking the bill that had been presented by the nationalists.

Fuerza del Pueblo is a group recently created by some deputies who left the Georgian Dream to express strong anti-Western tendencies, and many consider that they continue to be controlled remotely from the original group to keep their hands clean regarding positions that are too extreme. The law on foreign agents actually puts at the center of Georgian politics the question of supporting Ukraine against Russia, and according to pro-Russians it is an attempt to “drag Georgia into war” inspired by Western countries, which use Ukraine as a weapon against Moscow.

The party in power has thus appropriated patriotic rhetoric after using extremists as leverage, who have not appreciated being left in the background. The expressions of hostility against the “men without a country”, the “quasi-patriots”, the “servants of foreign countries”, which seemed exclusive to Fuerza del Pueblo, are now on everyone’s lips with various nuances, which is why the confrontation is it gets more and more complicated. In addition to the two parties that have always been in conflict, new divisions have been created within them.

The leader of the Georgian Dream parliamentary group, Mamuki Mdinaradze, stated that “true patriots cannot go against this bill”, and accused the opponents of wanting to involve even the Georgian Orthodox Church: “You insult our patriarch and they want to throw our country into chaos in a revolutionary scenario, put foreign money into war projects… we only want financial transparency”.

Many other authorized interventions confirm these positions of extreme alarm, while President Salome Zurabišvili has already announced that she has no intention of signing this law after its final approval, with which the Georgian political crisis could degenerate in an unpredictable way.