TBILISI, May 3. /TASS/. Crowds protesting against the bill on foreign agents have blocked traffic via an embankment on the left bank of the Kura River near Queen Tamar’s Bridge, a TASS correspondent reported from the area.
Earlier, campaigners blocked Heroes’ Square, a vital intersection in the city. They are waving Georgian and EU flags and chant slogans in support of European integration.
No vehicles are allowed to pass, except for ambulances.
Protestors flocked to Heroes Square on Thursday evening. They made attempts to block traffic in the area earlier, but the police were able to prevent them from doing so, and arrests were made. Another group, which was rallying against the controversial bill outside the Georgian parliament building, made the decision to move to Heroes Square and help their fellow campaigners. For the time being, traffic via this key junction remains completely halted.
On Wednesday, Georgia’s parliament passed the second reading of the bill "On the Transparency of Foreign Influence," which had been opposed by President Salome Zourabichvili, the opposition and Western diplomats, who see it as an obstacle to Georgia’s integration into the European Union. Opposition members and civil activists have been holding protest rallies in front of the parliament building in the country’s capital of Tbilisi since April 15.
In early April, the ruling Georgian Dream party announced its decision to reintroduce the bill a year after the initiative was quashed following mass protests. The bill is almost identical to last year’s, with one exception: the term "agent of foreign influence" has been replaced with "organization pursuing foreign interests.".