Georgia sinks to the brink of chaos, after a night of violent clashes between police and protesters over the government’s attempt to pass a controversial “foreign agent” law, Bloomberg reports.

President Salome Zourabisvili condemned the “unwarranted, unprovoked and disproportionate use of force” by police who fired tear gas, pepper spray and used “Aura” against crowds of protesters outside parliament in the capital Tbilisi. “The responsibility rests entirely with the government” for the violence against peaceful protesters, she clarified in a post on Wednesday on X.

The clashes erupted as lawmakers considered the “foreign influence transparency” bill that the US and European Union criticized as similar to that used by Russian President Vladimir Putin to suppress civil society groups and stifle his opponents. They called on Georgia to drop the law, warning that he is irreconcilable with the Caucasian nation’s ambition to join the EU.

The ruling Georgian Dream party is determined to pass the law, which it says binds non-governmental organizations to disclose their foreign sources of funding. It attempted to pass the same law last year, but clashes between police and protesters forced the party to withdraw the bill.

Zurabitsvili threatened to veto ‘Russian law’ if passed by parliament, and has sided with anti-government protesters who have repeatedly held mass rallies since the law was announced on April 3.

The police announced that 63 people were arrested during the clashes and several police officers were injured. He claimed he acted to prevent protesters trying to block government buildings.

The violence erupted a day after the billionaire founder of Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, attacked the West, and claimed that foreign forces he described as a “global war party” were trying to oust the government using NGOs.

The leader of the opposition United National Movement announced he was arrested and beaten by the police. “The wounds on my nose and face will heal, but I will not give up,” said Mr Levan Habeysvillei in television comments.

Georgia’s Public Advocate Levan Ioseliani also criticized the police’s heavy-handed response to the protesters and called for an investigation, saying the rally against the law was “peaceful in nature and there was no reason to stop it and use force against it.”