‘Foreign agents’ law just one of many moves made back towards Moscow while the west looked the other way

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The army of riot police had finally retreated from Rustaveli Avenue, the broad thoroughfare in front of the parliament building, back into the barricaded parliamentary estate.

The last hour on the streets of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, had been violent. Snatch squads had grabbed protesters as officers, beating their shields with truncheons, surged forward to push the chanting crowds away from the graffiti-scrawled, imposing parliament building.

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© Photograph: Daniel Boffey/The Guardian

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© Photograph: Daniel Boffey/The Guardian

Resolutely European young people brave violent repression to loudly reject ‘foreign agents’ law and alignment with Moscow

Mariska Iurevicz’s mother has been crying a lot recently. “She is always asking when I’ll be home”, the 22-year-old says. “I think we are feeling the same. We are nervous and some of us feeling unsafe. But we are very strong. We will do everything to change the situation.”

Iurevicz, a philosophy student at the TSU State University in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, belongs to one of a myriad of protest groups sprouting out of universities and schools that have been driving the mass protests against the “foreign agents” law being introduced in the east European country.

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© Photograph: Nicolo Vincenzo Malvestuto/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Nicolo Vincenzo Malvestuto/Getty Images

As Georgians rally against an illiberal new law seen as a tilt to the Kremlin, its oligarch sponsor may consider it essential self-defence

Bidzina Ivanishvili has spent much of the last decade gazing down at Tbilisi’s ancient rooftops from his glass castle, a home perched atop a hill that his critics say resembles a Bond villain’s lair.

Since his tenure as prime minister from 2012 to 2013, the secretive oligarch has largely exerted his influence from behind the scenes and is widely described by many Georgians as the country’s shadowy “puppet master”.

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© Photograph: Irakli Gedenidze/Reuters

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© Photograph: Irakli Gedenidze/Reuters

The law, now passed, which places restrictions on organisations with overseas funding, will damage civil society, say critics

Georgia’s controversial “foreign agents” bill was approved this week by the country’s parliament, despite massive street protests and criticism from western governments.

A violent crackdown on protesters and government critics has elicited widespread condemnation inside and outside the country.

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© Photograph: Vano Shlamov/AFP/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Vano Shlamov/AFP/Getty Images

The bill requires any civil society organisation that receives more than 20% of its funds from abroad to register as being under foreign influence. Daniel Boffey reports

On the face of it the bill could sound innocuous: any civil society organisation that receives more than 20% of its funds from abroad must register as an organisation under foreign influence. Yet the new law Georgia’s parliament passed yesterday has sparked outrage and demonstrations in the capital, Tbilisi.

Critics claim the bill is “Kremlin-inspired” as Putin passed a similar law in 2012, which they say has had a chilling effect on civil society. Demonstrators think it is a way to redirect Georgia towards Russia. The Guardian’s chief reporter, Daniel Boffey, has been speaking to young protesters – often schoolchildren – about why they are so incensed.

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© Photograph: Zurab Tsertsvadze/AP

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© Photograph: Zurab Tsertsvadze/AP

Georgian protesters opposed to a 'foreign influence' bill picketed the Georgian parliament amid a major police presence during the third, and final reading of the bill. Police attempted to disperse demonstrators and people were seen being detained. The 84-30 vote has cleared the way for the bill to become law. The draft now goes to the president, Salome Zourabichvili, who has said she will veto it, but her decision can be overridden by another vote in parliament, which is controlled by the ruling party and its allies. Government critics and western countries have criticised the new bill as authoritarian and Russian-inspired

• Georgia parliament approves ‘foreign agent’ bill amid ongoing protests

• Why are Georgians protesting against a ‘foreign agents’ bill?

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© Photograph: EPA

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© Photograph: EPA

REC Silicon says it will soon start shipping polysilicon, which has come mostly from China, reviving a Washington State factory that shut down in 2019.

© Ruth Fremson/The New York Times