MIA: Legislative Changes to Target Protests’ Foreign Participants
Under the sweeping legislative changes that the Georgian Dream parliament is pushing for, it will be easier to expel foreigners and ban them from re-entering the country. The changes, in particular, will target those foreigners who take part in the anti-regime protests, said Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, the deputy interior minister of the ruling party, while presenting the changes to the GD parliament on May 13.
The legislative package, which overhauls Georgia’s immigration control and tightens measures, includes the introduction of expulsion and re-entry bans as penalties for various administrative offenses, such as petty hooliganism, disobeying police, violating rules on assembly and rallies, assaulting public officials, and violating travel rules in the country. Protesters are often charged with these offenses. The package was adopted in first reading with 81 votes in favor and none against.
“In recent months, we have seen many foreigners involved in destructive activities on Rustaveli Avenue,” Darakhvelidze told the GD parliament, noting that while fines and even administrative detentions have been imposed on foreign citizens found guilty of various administrative offenses, “there is no expulsion mechanism yet.” Claiming that these foreigners enter Georgia with “destructive goals,” Darakhvelidze said they will be expelled and banned from re-entry for a certain period of time, “which will allow us to protect public order and security.”
He also said: “The list of countries where these people involved in the protests come from is long.” While noting that the police fines and arrests reduced the number of foreign citizens participating in the protests, he added that their visas “made it difficult” for the ministry to simply expel them from Georgia.
Anti-regime resistance has been ongoing in Georgia since November 2024, when the GD government, a month after disputed elections, changed the country’s foreign policy course by abandoning the EU accession path and efforts.
NOTE: This news article was updated on May 14 at 11:00 a.m. to include the one-party parliament’s adoption of the legislative package in its first reading.
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