Thousands protest at Georgian 'foreign agent' bill

Protesters have clashed with police in Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, after parliament backed a controversial draft law which critics say limits press freedom and suppresses civil society.

Riot police used water cannon and pepper spray to disperse the crowds outside the parliament building.

Some protesters were seen falling on the ground and coughing, while others waved EU and Georgian flags.

The government said several policemen were hurt and police gear was damaged.

There has been widespread international condemnation of the proposed bill, which would require non-governmental and independent media organisations who receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to declare themselves as foreign agents.

The opposition described it as a Russian-style law that would stigmatise and clamp down on Georgia's vibrant civil society and independent media.

Russia passed its own version of a "foreign agents" law in 2012, expanding it over the years to target and suppress Western-funded NGOs and media.

"The law is Russian as we all know... We don't want to be a part of the ex-Soviet Union, we want to be a part of the European Union, we want to be pro-West," one protester told the Reuters news agency.

The country's President, Salome Zourabichvili, says she supports the protesters, saying they represented what she called free Georgia which saw its future in Europe.

But inside the parliament building, 76 lawmakers from the governing Georgian Dream party gave their initial support to the new "transparency of foreign influence" draft law.

On Monday, a committee hearing into the proposed legislation ended in a parliamentary brawl.

Passing the law would see Georgia join a list of undemocratic and authoritarian post-Soviet states such as Belarus, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan which have copied the Russian law on restricting the activities of non-governmental organisations.

Historically, the term "agent" in Russia and Georgia has the meaning of "spy" and "traitor", giving a negative connotation to the work done by civil society. It suggests they are acting in the interest of foreign forces rather than doing good for the country and society.

The US embassy issued a statement describing Tuesday's vote as a "dark day for Georgia's democracy".

It added that parliament's advancing "of these Kremlin-inspired laws was incompatible with the people of Georgia's clear desire for European integration and its democratic development".

The two proposed bills, on the "transparency of foreign agents" and the "registration of foreign agents", were submitted to parliament by the openly anti-Western People's Power movement, a close ally of the governing Georgian Dream party.

The group has argued that the second bill was an exact analogue of the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

Georgian Dream supported the drafts, saying that such a law was needed to improve transparency.

At a briefing on Tuesday evening, the chairman of the governing party, Irakli Kobakhidze, hit back at the US embassy's statement, saying it was "a dark day for the radical opposition and its supporters".

What most protesters and the country's opposition fear is that the adoption of the law would mark an end to Georgia's long-standing ambition to join the EU. More than 80% of Georgia's population supports Georgia's European perspective. which is also enshrined in the country's constitution.

Brussels is currently considering Georgia's application for EU candidate status.

On Tuesday evening, the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the draft law was "incompatible with EU values and standards".