Parliament passed with its first reading amendments to the law on assemblies and manifestations, which the opponents criticize for tightening some of the rules of holding rallies.

The draft of amendments to the law were proposed by the ruling party on June 13, less than a month after recent series of street protests, which came to a violent end on May 26.

The ruling party lawmakers said that they launched drafting proposals last year and further continued this year to put the draft in line with the Constitutional Court’s ruling, which said in April that some of the provisions of the existing law on rallies were not constitutional.

Opponents say that some of the provisions of the proposed draft are vague and give possibility of broad interpretation, which can be misused by the authorities during the street protest rallies.
 
MP Pavle Kublashvili, one of the co-sponsors of the proposal, said that some of the provisions possibly requiring more specifics would be improved before its approval by the Parliament with second reading. Lawmakers from the parliamentary minority also said that there was an agreement with the ruling party to improve such provisions of the draft before the second hearing.