{"id":973,"date":"2024-05-17T15:44:42","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T15:44:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=973"},"modified":"2024-09-04T18:35:36","modified_gmt":"2024-09-04T18:35:36","slug":"georgia-protests-an-explainer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=973","title":{"rendered":"Georgia Protests: An Explainer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The former Soviet state of Georgia has been rocked by protests in the capital Tbilisi over a proposed law which critics say is a cover for increasing Russia\u2019s hold on the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Russia already occupies around 20% of Georgian territory following its invasion in 2008, and the ruling Georgian Dream party is now trying to force media outlets and NGOs who receive funding from abroad to register as \u201can organisation serving the interests of a foreign power\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>UK foreign secretary David Cameron says the legislation is \u201cKremlin inspired\u201d \u2013 a view backed by an estimated 200,000 demonstrators who have faced riot police&nbsp;using tear gas, stun grenades and water canon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Georgia only secured its independence in 1991 and opinion polls suggest around 80% of the population is in favour of joining the European Union but the EU says if this law is passed there\u2019 be no hope of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alex Scrivener is the executive director of the Democratic Security Institute, a pro-democracy thinktank based in Tbilisi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;\"><iframe style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/2MI746fr8Cl3ERRJ25NtpG?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameBorder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The former Soviet state of Georgia has been rocked by protests in the capital Tbilisi over a proposed law which critics say is a cover for increasing Russia\u2019s hold on the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - 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