Protester in Georgia fears an isolated future | REUTERS

Mariam svad chugs a cup of coffee packs a gas mask and heads out the door of her tii apartment despite running on little sleep for the past few weeks she says she's full of energy she's one of thousands of Georgians engaging a nightly protests against a government bill on so-called foreign agents it would require organizations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence critics have condemned it as authoritarian and Kremlin inspired sirat who is the co-founder of the charity animal project and receives funding from Western donors fears the legislation would undermine her work it's very insulting and demeaning to us because all we do all the local Angels do is to work for the Georgian Society the normal angel that work on human rights that work with the regional organizations they have very limited resources there and we all need this help from from from uh International organizations and donors and they are putting such a barrier with this new bill uh that nobody can do anything right now and the Georgia will be left completely isolated from the West at previous protest police had cleared crowds with tear gas stun grenades and water cannons the draft law has drawn comparisons to laws used to surpressed descent in Russia with whom Georgia fought and lost a short war in 2008 the ruling Georgian Dream party says the bill will promote transparency for svat the Bill's high stakes and as a citizen of Georgia I I fear that it will completely change the foreign curse for Georgia and we will be left completely isolated from the Western world because everybody in the our partners from the EU us saying that this bill if it if it's passed it's going to be uh it's going to close so many doors that we we worked so hard so many year to be opened especially with the EU candidacy right now the standoff is part of a wider struggle that could determine whether Georgia moves closer towards Europe or back under moscow's influence Georgia a country of 3.7 million people has seen turmoil war and revolution since the collapse of the Soviet Union sir vat says she and her fellow protesters are determin to continue demonstrating either you are on the right side of the history or you are on the wrong side of hisory I believe I strongly strongly believe that I'm on the right of the history

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Id: rq6HLnypW3c

Length: 2min 36sec (156 seconds)

Published: Fri May 03 2024