#PROTESTS

Concerns are intensifying that Georgia’s upcoming election could push the country toward authoritarianism, jeopardizing its path to EU membership.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in Spain to demonstrate against the cost of accommodation, complaining they are being forced out of cities.

The University of Warsaw is working with the foreign ministry, Polish and foreign consular services, and other institutions to free a study group held in Nigeria on rioting charges which they deny.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of the Polish parliament building in Warsaw on Tuesday to protest MPs’ rejection of a bill that would soften the country’s strict abortion law.

Europe has seen a broad trend towards liberalization of abortion laws but some countries are bucking the trend.

Anti-facist demonstrations are taking place across France this weekend as campaigning is underway ahead of snap parliamentary elections.

Dozens were injured, and at least 60 people were detained during an anti-government protest in Yerevan, over territorial concessions to Azerbaijan.

A group of farmers who have been staging a hunger strike at the Polish parliament since early May said they were suspending their protest in order to meet President Andrzej Duda for talks.

Georgia has been rocked by a number of huge protests in recent days owing to public anger over the so-called “foreign agents” bill, which cleared its final reading in the Georgian parliament on Tuesday.

The Georgian parliament has approved a contentious law, dubbed the “foreign agents bill” or simply the “Russian bill,” aimed at ‘enhancing transparency’ on foreign influences, despite widespread opposition.

Critics argue that the bill, dubbed “the Russian law”, bears the hallmarks of legislation employed by the Kremlin to suppress dissent.

Polish farmers have been staging blockades at the country’s border crossings, especially with Ukraine, to protest against the import of less expensive produce.

Previously, the Polish Prime Minister urged the EU to impose a ban on the imports of agricultural products from both countries.

The bill guarantees immunity to people involved in the pro-Catalan independence movement since 2012.

Farmers in Poland’s southwestern Dolnośląskie province have decided to suspend their protests and celebrate International Women’s Day by handing out flowers to women.

Czech farmers dumped manure in front of the government’s office, blocked Prague streets with tractors, and taunted the country’s farm minister on Thursday as they renewed protests demanding more help and a halt to cheap imports to the European Union.

December 17 marks the anniversary of the so-called “Black Thursday”, the bloodiest episode of the workers’ protests on the Polish coast in 1970, when the Polish communist authorities opened fire to the demonstrators opposing soaring prices of food.