Rattled by Ukraine war, Georgia wrestles with tighter societal controls

The cobbled streets of Tbilisi, the capital of the Caucasus republic of Georgia, have seen a lot of political turmoil since the fall of the USSR three decades ago.

But the current round of pitched battles between protesters and riot police near the country’s parliament, on picturesque Rustaveli Avenue, is the sharpest confrontation in many years between Georgia’s often fiery pro-Western opposition and the more conservative stability-oriented government, which currently holds a comfortable majority in parliament.

The most direct cause of the unrest is government-authored legislation that would require politically active civil-society groups and media that receive more than 20% of for around a decade.