Previous day, during the protests held in front of the parliament building in Tbilisi, 63 people were detained for "disorderly conduct and failure to comply with requests or commands of law enforcement officers”, the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, Aleksandre Darakhvelidze said at the briefing he held, APA’s Tbilisi correspondent reports.
He stated that 6 more police officers were injured during the confrontation.
***01:23
Demonstrators, dispersing surrounding streets from Rustavelli Avenue of Tbilisi, have blocked mostly used highway of the capital Gamsakhurdia Avenue, APA's correspondent in Tbilisi reports.
As a result, movement of vehicles in this part of city has been paralyzed, and buses and cars are stuck on the road.
A long traffic jam is observed in the Avenue.
*** 00:25
Special Police continue operation in direction of dispersing protesters in Rustavelli Avenue in the rally in Tbilisi, Georgia, APA's correspondent in Tbilisi reports.
Law enforcement bodies use water cannons, tear gas, gas bombs, and pepper spray.
Front of Parliament building has been cleaned from demonstrators. Thousands of demonstrators still remain in the area.
*** 23:42
The law enforcement officers have used water cannons to disperse demonstrators outside the Parliament in the country’s capital Tbilisi, who are protesting the controversial domestic bill on transparency of foreign influence, APA reports citing Agenda.ge.
The police used a special warning for the use of water cannons, the local media said, noting the officers have also used tear gas against protesters.
*** 21:36
The Georgian Interior Ministry on Tuesday called on the organisers and participants of the rally against the controversial domestic bill on transparency of foreign influence outside the Parliament in the country’s capital Tbilisi not to violate the law and follow the instructions of the law enforcement officers, APA reports citing Agenda.ge.
The Ministry reminded the protesters, who were trying to block the entrances of the legislative body amid the plenary session, that it was forbidden to blockade the entrances of administrative bodies and disrupt their activities.
In order to ensure the safe movement for the members of the Parliament and staff of the legislative body and to avoid artificial escalation of events, employees of various departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are mobilised at the entrances of the legislative body and call on the gathered people to vacate the entrance and exit spaces of the Parliament building”, the body stressed.
It noted the law enforcement officers were mobilised to ensure the safety of each citizen, adding “each fact of violation will be followed by the response defined by the acting legislation”.
A part of the participants of the rally marched towards the Government Administration, where there was a clash between the police and the protesters, the media said.
The second hearing of the draft law, which calls for the registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad, will continue tomorrow at the Parliament.
The bill, reintroduced by the ruling Georgian Dream party after its retraction following protests last year and has been met with criticism from the opposition, the domestic NGO sector and a part of Georgia’s foreign partner states and diplomatic representations, was passed in the first reading on April 17 by the legislative body.
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