Do you hear Tbilisi sing?

Georgians are in the streets for freedom. We should support them.

The arrest of Guram Adarmia. He’s currently in hospital following police abuse.

On Saturday, Nutsa Buzaladze performed in the Eurovision Song Contest Final, the first Georgian entry to make it that far since 2016. It was a forgettable performance, finishing twenty-first of twenty-five. Yet while she was taking part in perhaps the silliest expression of European identity, back in Tbilisi the politics of the country’s European integration were becoming more serious.

Tens of thousands of Georgians took to the streets over the weekend to protest new laws, widely viewed as an illiberal push-back against the country’s European aspirations. This week, the situation is set to intensify as the government ploughs on. Yesterday (Monday) the government-controlled Judicial Committee passed the laws in a hastily assembled meeting with no opposition present. The full parliament will vote today, with protestors and the government gearing up for a clash that increasingly points towards revolution.

At the centre of the dispute is a new law on foreign agents. This would require greater registration and regulation of political groups that receive more than 20 per cent of its funding from abroad. While this might seem reasonable, the reality is far from it. Many Georgians expect it to be applied selectively to discredit and harass pro-European, pro-democratic voices, while agents of Russian influence run amok. Thousands of bodies aiding Georgian civil society will be subject to new rules. There are fears it could be used more generally to silence dissent. It also reflects a broader choice in the existential future of the country – between the freedom of the West, and the malign influence of Russia, oligarchs, and autocrats.

It’s a choice where ordinary Georgians and their government are starkly divided, and one which seems to be coming to a head. Last year the government tried the same thing and backed down. Now, they seem intent on following through but are losing control of where that will end.