The physical and verbal altercation occurred during the Legal Affairs Committee’s discussion of the Transparency of Foreign Influence and Foreign Agents Registration Act bills, tabled by the People’s Power movement.

Anri Okhanashvili, the committee’s chairman, requested that the law enforcement officers remove some MPs from the hall because they were chanting from their seats, inciting tension.

MP Giorgi Vashadze protested the decision, while United National Movement Chair Levan Khabeishvili attacked Anri Okhanashvili physically.

Members of the opposition For Georgia party also left the committee meeting in protest. MPs stated that the Committee breached procedures by refusing to consider their party-introduced legislation on Protection against the Influence of Occupying Country Russia alongside the two drafts.

Since the morning, a street protest against People’s Power-introduced bills was ongoing near the Parliament building. The police have been called in.

The leader of Girchi – More Freedom, Zurab Japaridze, stated at the rally that the adoption of the bills proposed by People’s Power would “deprive Georgia of the chance to receive EU candidate status”, adding that it would “vanish dissenting opinions in the country that contradict the interests of Russia and Ivanishvili”.

The Legal Affairs Committee is scheduled to review the Transparency of Foreign Influence and Foreign Agents Registration Act bills with the first reading. The parliamentary People’s Power faction drafted both bills.