Georgia’s president vetoes media law that’s provoked weeks of protests

Georgia’s president on Saturday vetoed the so-called “Russian law” targeting media that has sparked weeks of mass protests.

The law would require media and NGOs to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad.

President Salome Zourabichvili said earlier in the week that she considered the law “unacceptable.”

Zourabichvili is increasingly at odds with Georgia’s ruling party, said on Saturday that the law contradicts Georgia’s constitution and “all European standards,” and added that it “must be abolished.”

The ruling party, Georgian Dream, has a majority sufficient to override Zourabichvili’s veto, and is widely expected to do so in the coming days. The Georgian government insists that the law is intended to promote transparency and curb what it deems harmful foreign influence in the country of 3.7 million.

The proposed law set off mass protests this month in Tbilisi. Opponents refer to it as “ the Russian law ” because it resembles regulations in Russia. On Saturday there was a peaceful protest in a shopping mall in the city.