Violent protests in the former Soviet country, 50 police officers injured

At least 50 police officers were injured and 66 people were taken into custody after violent protests on Tuesday in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.

The protesters clashed with the police and managed to destroy the protective barriers trying to enter the Parliament building. Citizens threw Molotov cocktails and stones at the police, injuring 50 officers.

The protests came after a draft law was approved that qualifies as “foreign agents” all associations and non-governmental organizations that receive more than 20% of funds from abroad.

According to these associations, this law, similar to the Russian one, transforms the Georgian system into an authoritarian one, and which risks extinguishing any free voice, as the list of foreign agents will have to pay much higher taxes.

Georgia, a former Soviet country, experienced open conflict in 2008 with Russia, with Moscow’s forces seizing several autonomous Russophile provinces. Official Tbilisi has always been on the alert that one of the next targets of the Russian campaign in Ukraine could be precisely that Caucasus country.

The draft law on “foreign agents” causes clashes and tension in the former Soviet country