TBILISI, April 17. /TASS/. Demonstrators near the parliament building in Tbilisi gave Georgian authorities one hour to repeal the foreign agents bill, poet Rati Amaglobeli said during a protest rally.
"We will wait one hour for Georgian Dream’s political statement that they see the unbreakable will of the Georgian people and are returning to the constitutional framework," he said, adding that the protesters were expecting the revocation of the bill.
On Wednesday, in Tbilisi, the representatives of civil society and opposition politicians gathered again near the parliament building to protest the foreign agents bill. The situation at the protest rally is calm without any clashes with the police. The protest rallies near the parliament have been held since Monday.
Earlier on Wednesday, Georgia’s parliament passed the foreign agents bill in the first reading. The bill triggered a negative reaction from the opposition and President Salome Zurabishvili, as well as from the EU and US embassies. According to those opposing the idea, the bill will hinder the country’s integration into the European Union.
In early April, the ruling Georgian Dream party announced its decision to reintroduce the bill restricting the activities of foreign agents a year after the initiative had triggered mass protests, making the authorities opt against adopting it. The wording of the bill is the same as the draft submitted last year, except that the term "an agent of foreign influence" has been replaced with "an organization promoting the interests of a foreign power."