❗️🇬🇪 Topic #1 in Georgia: discussion of the draft law "On Foreign Influence" (On Foreign Agents).

According to the document, each legal entity or mass media will be obliged to disclose its sources of funding and have a special marking if it has more than 20% foreign participation.
ℹ️ What happened today:
📍 discussion in the legal committee ended in a fight between deputies (on video)
📍 Several public protests took place, according to eyewitnesses, there were from 100 to 3000 participants, at one of them they burned the flag of the Russian Federation and threw eggs at the Parliament
📍 found that the "American" version of the bill was not translated verbatim
📍 more than 200 professors and lecturers signed an appeal that they are against this law
📍 students from ten major universities joined the protests
📍 posters appeared on the streets of cities with images of deputies of the ruling party and the opposition, denouncing each other
📍 winemakers appealed to the government not to pass the law, as foreign organizations have been very supportive of them all the years
📍 representatives of the European Union, diplomats, the UN, a coalition of media, publicly spoke out against the adoption of the law and that it could destroy all prospects for European integration

⚔️ Students in Georgia will no longer be exempt from military service.

According to Georgian Deputy Defense Minister Grigol Giorgadze, the ministry is preparing a new "Defense Code" that will require compulsory military service for all connoscripts, including students. According to the official, the army will put students in a better position than other connoscripts and will offer different conditions for compulsory military service.
“If we need to recruit 7,000 recruits, and we recruited 6,500 non-students, we will get the remaining 500 people from students,” Giorgadze said.
ℹ️ He also explained that students will have the option of choosing a six-month, eight-month, eleven-month or four-year tuition program.

🇬🇪 Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili supported the draft law "On Foreign Influence" ("On Foreign Agents").

His rhetoric has already caused heated discussion in social networks.
🗣 Garibashvili said: "The future of our country does not belong to either agents of foreign states or servants of foreign states, the future of our country and our people belongs to patriots."
👮🏻‍♂️ The Prime Minister also emphasized that the state will not forgive "a single illegal act."
❗️So, the law has not yet been adopted, and threats of its non-execution have been voiced.

⚡️ The ruling party "Georgian Dream" has submitted the law "On Foreign Agents" to the discussions of the Parliament today, although earlier it was planned for Thursday.

A report on the bill is already being read.
❗️The opposition protests and calls on citizens to come to Rustaveli Avenue.

✊ Yesterday, a rally against the law on foreign agents near the Parliament ended with the violent dispersal of the protesters.

A new protest action in Tbilisi is announced at the Parliament today at 19:00.
The main slogan of the organizers: "No to the Russian law - come out to defend dignity!".
ℹ️ This rally is a continuation of yesterday's one against the law on foreign agents passed by the deputies of the ruling party. This law introduces reporting on foreign funding, a register of legal entities and the media, as well as criminal liability for its non-execution.

🇬🇪 News related to the law on foreign agents - the most discussed topic of the week.

📍 the bill is 100% rejected and will no longer be discussed
📍 There will be no evening protest today, the organizers thanked everyone who gathered these days near the Parliament
📍 at the backyard of the Parliament building, several thousand people demand the release of the remaining detainee (the situation is not moving forward yet, he has a criminal case and the prosecutor's office refuses to release him, but perhaps in the near future he will be released on a subnoscription)
📍 The only deputy, according to the protocol, who voted for the bill Dmitry Samkharadze, claims that he voted "against" and demands that this be taken into account in the protocol
📍 this topic is actively being discussed in Russia: the speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Volodin said: “Washington did not allow Georgia to become sovereign”, and the editor-in-chief of Russia Today Simonyan went even further, suggesting “no one will negotiate with Georgia and the troops will not be send there; we will simply just bomb Tbilisi, without particularly analyzing it ”

🆘 If you need urgent help and you cannot reach 112 (this is the general phone number for the police, firefighters, ambulance and the Ministry of Emergency Situations), call the alternative numbers:
599 84 22 06
598 08 77 61
577 01 11 39
577 01 11 74
591 54 43 84
591 94 68 40
591 94 68 70
591 54 43 75
ℹ️ Specialists are already dealing with this problem, but so far the network is overloaded and it can be difficult to get through on 112.

🇬🇪❤️ Summing up the street protests in Tbilisi: this episode has become one of the symbols.

This young woman for several minutes dodged water cannons, dancing merrily and waving the flag of Georgia, and he became the hero of all broadcasts. It took 7 police officers to detain her, after which it turned out that she was a minor and she was ... released.

👮🏻‍♂️👨🏻‍🎓The Georgian Ministry of Defense has stated that military connoscription will not be mandatory for students.

This is what youth and student protests are doing in the country: 10 days ago, the planned and discussed bill was again withdrawn.
The defense department said that students will serve only on a voluntary basis.
📌They will be able to choose for themselves one of three options:
✔️ military training every year, in the summer, one full month a year for four years;
✔️ a two-year junior officer training program, in parallel with the main studies;
✔️ enrollment in a paid territorial reserve while serving 45 days annually for 4 years
💰 At the same time, young people can officially defer their military service by paying 2,000 lari ($720) per year until they turn 27 years old.

🇬🇪⚽️🇮🇹 Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is the hero of the tour of the Italian football series "A" again.

The best player of the last month and the assistant of the league, laid down three defenders of the enemy team with feints at once and drove the ball into the net. His "Napoli" is leading by a wide margin in the championship, and Kvaratskhelia claims to be the "Opening of the football year in the world."
❤️ This week, his coach, Luciano Spalletti and the media also noted the civic position of the player who supported the protesters in his homeland, writing on his Instagram: "Georgia's future is in Europe!".

🇬🇪📹 The events of the March 7-9 protests in Georgia fit into a short documentary.

Posters and slogans, clashes with special forces, tear gas, dances, faces and emotions fit into a short seven-minute video of the Formula TV company, whose journalists were in the most active places of events.

🇬🇪🇨🇳 Such a surprise was made to the Georgian delegation in China during the recording of a program about Georgia on one of the TV stations.

A beautiful Georgian song performed by a Chinese children's choir.
📹 Video shared by Ambassador Archil Kalandia.

🇬🇪🛫🇹🇷 From June 2023, the German-Turkish airline Sun Express will start flying from Tbilisi to Turkey and back.

At the first stage, their planes will fly 5 times a week. So far, three directions have been announced: from 02.06. Izmir, from 05.06. Ankara and, which is especially pleasant, from 28.06 Antalya. Tickets for the summer are 90-150 euros, in the fall there are cheaper options. In addition to the fact that these are convenient direct flights, the price includes 20 kg of luggage.
🎫 Tickets can already be purchased on their sunny website: https://www.sunexpress.com/en/