“We will continue until the law is withdrawn, we will not be afraid! »

Like every evening for three weeks, on the evening of Friday, May 3, thousands of people marched in the center of Tbilisi and demonstrated against the draft law.“Foreign Influence” It was adopted in the second reading in the Parliament on Wednesday. “No to Russian law!” », “Europe is the only road to civilization!” » Demonstrators chanted in the evening at Freedom Square opposite the Paragraph Hotel, one of the properties of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder and current leader of Georgian Dream, who has ruled Georgia for 11 years.

qualified as “Russian Law” By its opponents, it is similar to the speech adopted by the Duma in 2012 as a mask of opposition to Vladimir Putin’s regime. In Georgia, as in Russia, the law requires independent media and civil society organizations to register as corporations “Pursuit of the Interests of a Foreign Power” If they get more than 20% of their funds from abroad.

“Being labeled a “foreign agent” in your own country is humiliating and makes us traitors.”, laments Kety Gujaraidze, an environmentalist at local NGO Green Alternative. For three weeks, the 52-year-old activist has participated in all the rallies, believing that the future of his country is currently being played out on the streets of Tbilisi. “In 2008, Russia invaded us, they are the enemy, it’s that simple. Today we are under attack from our own government trying to cut us off from the EU by covering up civil society. We are not going to stand idly by,” he said.She assures.

“We feel European”

The youth are the driving force of the struggle. Nia, Salome, Tengo, Nodariko, students or high school students are not impressed by the Russian model with the Georgian flag on their shoulders. “Our government is subservient to Moscow, not to us. We feel European.”says Salome Aladachvili, a 16-year-old high school student. “We will continue until the law is withdrawn, we will not be afraid! », her friend, Nia Kourstsilva, 15, her baby face framed by two brown braids. Law, she believes, “Shattering the European Dream” of the country and “Compromising the Future” of youth. how “All sectors, media, NGOs, education will be affected. In specific institutions that ensure student exchange, for example, within the framework of the Erasmus program. Our relationship with the EU will weaken, which is what the government wants. »

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