Georgia's ruling party withdraws foreign agents bill amid protests

TBILISI. March 9 (Interfax) - The Georgian Dream ruling party and the parliamentary majority have decided to withdraw the foreign agents bill, which has caused social unrest, Georgian Dream said in a statement on Thursday.

"As a responsible ruling party, we have made a decision to unconditionally withdraw the draft legislation, which was supported by us," the party said.

The Georgian Interior Ministry said earlier in the day that the police detained 133 people during the protests staged outside the parliament building in Tbilisi on March 7-8.

After the bill was adopted by the Georgian parliament in the first reading on Tuesday, opposition leaders called on their supporters to join a protest, during which clashes broke out with the police, who had to use force.