"It is important that on April 29, both big and small, women and men, civil servants and businessmen, all and sundry come out to Rustaveli, so that we can speak the word of the Georgian people against the campaign of contempt that the National Movement is conducting against the Georgian people through its foreign patrons," said the Parliament Speaker, Shalva Papuashvili. On Monday, the ruling Georgian Dream will hold a "public meeting" in support of the Russian Law in front of the parliament building, in the exact same place where for a week daily demonstrations against the Russian law have been held.
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"When these people were in power, we remember what they did; they generally stifled free speech. Now, from the opposition, from the Facebook keyboards, they are directly scaring the public so that they do not express their opinion. Foreign funding is behind these groups. Among them, when we talk about some parties, this is the usual campaign of hatred and intimidation. Society sees once again that even if we give these people even one gram of power, they will continue the same terror that they terrorized society. When we confront the propaganda directed against Georgian values, it is a matter of national honor to stand up for all Rustaveli.
Let's show everyone inside and outside the country what the Georgian people want. The desire of the Georgian people is expressed in every word. Both big and small, women and men, civil servants and businessmen, everyone should be at Rustaveli in order for the voice of the Georgian nation to be heard," Papuashvili said.
Employees in public services are obliged to participate in the action planned by Georgian Dream, just as they were instructed to spread propaganda materials created by the ruling party in support of the Russian Law on social networks.
Photocopies of the correspondence of Mamuka Gogberashvili, the representative of the mayor of Terjoli, were circulated on Facebook, according to which Gogberashvili is mobilizing employees of budget organizations to take them to the rally.
"On Monday, April 29, we are all going to Tbilisi. Mothers with small children will be an exception. Confirm with me all. If two members of your family are employed, if there is an unavoidable situation, tell me and one of them must leave. If anyone in the neighborhood wants to join, tell them, I should have a full list this evening."
Gogberashvili told Georgian News that his Facebook account was hacked.
Levan Surmava, the chairman of the Martvili City Council, said that they were instructed to bring 800 people to Tbilisi to support the Russian law.
Surmava was interviewed by a journalist from the Mtavari Arkhi as a representative of the regional offices of the ruling party. The journalist asked the chairman of the Sakrebulo whether they had started preparing the lists.
"Tomorrow there should be a meeting, and the mayor said that he should tell us, and we haven't started [preparing the lists] yet... First, we have to hold a meeting, call the representatives of the village. Since it's Monday, vacations have to be determined... We were assigned 800 people... I think we took 800 people before, I don't remember if it was 700... When we were on liberty, we were together twice... There is no problem, we will organize... Thursday-Friday you will have a list according to names and surnames and car numbers, who, how and in what way," said Surmava.
"Yes, it is a party task, it is my personal task to organize our party units so that if someone wants to go to the rally, they can do so in an organized manner.
They will request leave and go. Whoever does not want to support the national policy of the government, not a single person should come to the rally!" said Mamuka Mdinaradze, the leader of the parliamentary majority.
Georgian Dream is likely to discuss the second reading of the Russian law on so-called Foreign Agents on April 29. Opposition parties - Ahali, Girchi - More Freedom, Droa, United National Movement, Lelo, and Strategy Aghmashenebeli - have planned to mobilize for this day, as they announced on April 18.
Georgian Dream adopted the Russian law in the first reading on April 17, which declares media and non-governmental organizations that are financially independent from the government as Foreign Agents.
The European Union, the US State Department, the United Nations, and international organizations have called on the Georgian authorities not to adopt a law that does not correspond to the values of the European Union and threatens the freedom and existence of the media and the civil sector.
