In Tbilisi, water cannons and tear gas were again used against protesters over the law on “foreign agents”

Special forces in Tbilisi used water cannons and tear gas against protesters who tried to enter the building of the Georgian Parliament on Rustaveli Avenue.

On the evening of March 8, the opponents of the draft law on "foreign agents", which is being considered by Georgian deputies, again gathered in the city center.

At the rally, Giorgi Vashadze, the leader of the Strategy Agmashenebeli party, issued an ultimatum to the authorities, demanding that the draft law be withdrawn within an hour and that all those detained at the protest rally the day before be released. After the ultimatum expired, he called on protesters to surround the parliament building to prevent MPs from meeting on Thursday.

After the police used special equipment, the protesters began to break windows and break fences in the parliament building.

As a result, the special forces began a forceful dispersal of the rally and forced the protesters out of the square near the parliament.

• On March 7, the Georgian parliament adopted in the first reading a bill on "foreign agents", which caused a wave of criticism in the country. During the voting, several thousand people gathered near the parliament building on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi. The police violently dispersed the protesters using water cannons and tear gas. As a result, it was reported about the detention of 76 people who were charged with administrative articles on petty hooliganism and disobedience to the police. Another protester was detained on criminal charges of assaulting a police officer.