TBILISI, Mar 8 Georgian police detained 10 more participants on Wednesday protests in downtown Tbilisi, the total number of detainees rose to 76, the country's interior ministry said in a statement.
«In order to safely hold the rally and maintain law and order, the Ministry of Internal Affairs detained another 10 people administratively on charges of disobeying the lawful demand of the police,» the statement says.
According to the agency, the demonstrators went to the protest action in front of the parliament, carrying stun guns, batons, stones, various pyrotechnics, paints and various objects prohibited by law and intended for violent actions, which were confiscated by the police.
On the eve of the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported about the detention of 66 protesters.
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In Tbilisi, in front of the parliament building, a protest rally was held on Tuesday morning, protesters spoke against the adoption of the bill on foreign agents, which was adopted in the evening in the first reading. Earlier, the Georgian parliament received a draft law on the transparency of foreign influence, according to which it is proposed to create in the country a register of non-governmental organizations, media and entities receiving funding from a foreign state. Representatives of the ruling Georgian Dream party, who represent the parliamentary majority, told reporters that they intended to support the new bill, and if President Salome Zurabishvili vetoed it, the deputies would try to overcome it. The initiators of the bill claim that this project is a softened version of the American law. The opposition, as well as US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan, previously reported that the bill has nothing to do with American law and is analogous to the law in force in Russia.