Tbilisi: Some 1,000 protesters stood firm outside parliament in Georgia on Monday, vowing not to back down in their fight against a Russia-styled “foreign agent” bill, a day before it’s due to be adopted.
Protests have gripped the small Caucasus nation for weeks over the bill, which critics say will erode democracy and derail the ex-Soviet republic’s long-held ambition of joining the European Union.
Critics say the measure, which resembles one Russia has used to crack down on dissent, will steer Tbilisi back under Moscow’s influence.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has portrayed it as necessary for Georgia’s sovereignty, saying it will boost transparency of civil groups’ funding.
The bill is due to go for a third and final reading in parliament on Tuesday.
On Monday, it passed a committee vote, a final step before it goes for a vote in parliament.
The bill targets NGOs that receive foreign funding, with Georgian Dream’s billionaire backer Bidzina Ivanishvili accusing them of working on foreign orders and plotting a revolution.
Part of Tbilisi’s main Rustaveli Avenue was closed off around parliament on Monday.
Hundreds of riot police officers lined a street behind parliament, and some scuffles broke out between them and protesters.
Authorities a day earlier warned that they would arrest people who blocked parliament, but thousands defied the warning and came to the parliament’s gates anyway.
“We are planning to stay here for as long as it takes,” 22-year-old Mariam Kalandadze told AFP.
“This law means not joining Europe,” she said, adding that “this is something that I have wanted my whole life.”

TORONTO: The season’s first major wildfires have spread to roughly 10,000 hectares across Western Canada on Sunday as authorities issued an evacuation order for a community in British Columbia and warned of poor air quality across provinces.
In British Columbia, thousands of residents in Northern Rockies Regional Municipality and Fort Nelson First Nations were evacuated as the nearby blaze nearly doubled to 4,136 hectares.
Northern Rockies Regional Municipality Mayor Rob Fraser in a TV interview said most of the 3,500 residents in and around Fort Nelson had been evacuated.
Fort Nelson First Nation, seven kilometers from the town, also issued an evacuation order for Fontas, an Indigenous community.
Across the border in Alberta, residents of Fort McMurray, an oil hub which suffered extensive damage from wildfires in 2016, were asked to prepare to leave.
However, by the end of the day, favorable weather helped by a shower forecast tamed fire growth at Fort McMurray. Authorities said they expected fire activity to remain low with more showers expected on Monday.
Alberta continued to stress the two wildfires were extreme and out of control and recorded 43 active fires, including one located 16km southwest of Fort McMurray. By Sunday, authorities revised the area affected by fire to 6,579 hectares, much larger than what was reported on Friday.
Fraser said the fire was started by a tree blown down by strong winds falling onto a power line.
Six crews of wildland firefighters, 13 helicopters and airtankers were taming the fire on Sunday, said Alberta authorities.
Evacuation alerts were in place for Fort McMurray, Saprae Creek Estates and expanded to Gregoire Lake Estates and Rickards Landing Industrial Park.
Although there is no immediate risk to these communities, the alert ensures residents are prepared to evacuate if conditions change.
Smoke in Fort McMurray on Saturday was coming from fires in northern British Columbia, Alberta said.
Environment Canada issued a special air quality statement that extends from British Columbia to Ontario on Sunday.
Last year, a veil of smoke blanketed the US East Coast, tinging the skies a fluorescent orange as smoke reached parts of Europe as hundreds of forest fires burnt millions of acres of land and forced about 120,000 people to leave their homes.
The federal government has warned Canada faces another “catastrophic” wildfire season as it forecast higher-than-normal spring and summer temperatures across much of the country, boosted by El Nino weather conditions.
Canada experienced one of its warmest winters with low to non-existent snow in many areas, raising fears ahead of a hot summer triggering blazes in forests and wildlands amid an ongoing drought.