By Felix Light
TBILISI (Reuters) -Georgian lawmakers came to blows in parliament on Monday as ruling party legislators looked set to advance a controversial bill on “foreign agents” that has been criticised by Western countries.
Footage broadcast on Georgian television showed Mamuka Mdinaradze, leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party’s parliamentary faction and a driving force behind the bill, being punched in the face by opposition MP Aleko Elisashvili while speaking from the despatch box.
The incident prompted a wider brawl between several lawmakers, an occasional occurrence in Georgia’s often raucous parliament.
Georgian Dream said earlier this month it would reintroduce legislation requiring organisations that accept funds from abroad to register as foreign agents or face fines, 13 months after protests forced it to shelve the plan.
The bill has been criticised by European countries and the United States. The European Union, which gave Georgia candidate status in December, has said the move is incompatible with the bloc’s values.
Georgian critics have labelled it “the Russian law”, comparing it to similar legislation used by the Kremlin to crack down on dissent in Russia.
Several hundred demonstrators gathered outside the parliament building ahead of a mass protest that civil society organisations have called for Monday evening.
Russia is widely unpopular in Georgia, due to Moscow’s support for the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia defeated Georgia in a short war in 2008.
Georgian Dream, which says it wants the country to join the EU and NATO even as it has deepened ties with Moscow, says the bill is necessary to combat what it calls “pseudo-liberal values” imposed by foreigners, and to promote transparency.
Once approved by members of the legislature’s legal affairs committee, which is controlled by Georgian Dream and its allies, the foreign agent bill can proceed to a first reading in parliament.
(Reporting by Felix Light in Tbilisi; editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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