TBILISI, May 2. /TASS/. Demonstrators in Tbilisi protesting against the foreign agent bill have tossed a smoke grenade into a window of the parliament building, a TASS correspondent reported from the site.
The protesters broke the building’s ground-floor window and threw various objects inside. Later, some of them tossed a smoke grenade into the window, others disproved of the idea.
Later the TASS correspondent reported that the riot police had begun to detain demonstrators.
Currently, the situation around the parliament building is relatively calm, with the square in from of the building being empty. The protesters are flocking near the staff-only entryway to the building, having blocked the gate with dumpsters and building materials. Riot police deployed to building’s courtyard now and then use water jets, pepper and tear gas against the demonstrators.
Several thousand people on Wednesday evening gathered for a protest rally outside the parliament building. At a certain point, the rally turned into clashes with the police. Some of the demonstrators approached the staff only entrance to the parliament on April 9 Street and began to swing the gates. The riot police in the building’s courtyard responded with tear gas and pepper gas and water jets. Stones, bottles and firecrackers were hurled at the police.
On May 1, the Georgian parliament after the second reading supported the bill On the Transparency of Foreign Influence, which Zourabichvili, the opposition and Western diplomats oppose as an an obstacle to the country’s integration into the European Union. The opposition and civil activists have been holding rallies against the bill in Tbilisi since April 15.
The ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party announced in early April that it had decided to reintroduce the bill to parliament. This happened a year after a similar initiative triggered mass protests, forcing the authorities to abandon the bill. Its text remains identical to last year’s, except for the term "agent of foreign influence." Instead, the term "organization promoting the interests of a foreign power" is used.