UPDATED: Law enforcement officers use water cannons to disperse demonstrators against transparency bill

Updated at 23:55

The law enforcement officers have used water cannons to disperse demonstrators outside the Parliament in the country’s capital Tbilisi, who are protesting the controversial domestic bill on transparency of foreign influence.

The police used a special warning for the use of water cannons, the local media said, noting the officers have also used tear gas against protesters.

Levan Ioseliani, the Public Defender of Georgia recently called on the law enforcement bodies not to go beyond the scope of the legislation when exercising their power and urged them not to use force against the peaceful participants of the rally.

The Health Ministry said its emergency teams were mobilised at the spot to provide first aid to all citizens.

Earlier at 22:35

The employees of various divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are mobilised in the vicinity of the Parliament and Government Administration buildings to protect law and order.

The body said that despite the “numerous calls” from the police officers to vacate the exits of the legislative body for the MPs, the participants of the rally did not obey the legal demands of the law enforcement officers, and the officers used special means established by the law.

The participants of the rally confronted the law enforcement officers verbally and physically, and also through various objects in their direction”, the Ministry noted.

The state body once again called on political leaders, organisers and participants of the rally not to exceed the norms of assembly and demonstration established by the law.

Emergency service doctors have provided first aid to several citizens who were supposedly injured from the so-called pepper spray during the ongoing rally, the local media said.

Earlier at 22:02

The Georgian Interior Ministry on Tuesday called on the organisers and participants of the rally against the controversial domestic bill on transparency of foreign influence outside the Parliament in the country’s capital Tbilisi not to violate the law and follow the instructions of the law enforcement officers.

The Ministry reminded the protesters, who were trying to block the entrances of the legislative body amid the plenary session, that it was forbidden to blockade the entrances of administrative bodies and disrupt their activities.

In order to ensure the safe movement for the members of the Parliament and staff of the legislative body and to avoid artificial escalation of events, employees of various departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are mobilised at the entrances of the legislative body and call on the gathered people to vacate the entrance and exit spaces of the Parliament building”, the body stressed.

It noted the law enforcement officers were mobilised to ensure the safety of each citizen, adding “each fact of violation will be followed by the response defined by the acting legislation”.

A part of the participants of the rally marched towards the Government Administration, where there was a clash between the police and the protesters, the media said.

The second hearing of the draft law, which calls for the registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad, will continue tomorrow at the Parliament.

The bill, reintroduced by the ruling Georgian Dream party after its retraction following protests last year and has been met with criticism from the opposition, the domestic NGO sector and a part of Georgia’s foreign partner states and diplomatic representations, was passed in the first reading on April 17 by the legislative body.