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00:00No sooner sworn in than the crackdown begins after being inaugurated Sunday in a closed-door ceremony
00:07Georgia's new president ex-footballer Mikheil Kavalashvili
00:11Quickly signed a series of legislative amendments targeting the country's pro-europe protest movement
00:17Presenting the moves as a response to external interference
00:22Our country faces the artificially externally imposed polarization of society
00:28My efforts will be directed towards the consolidation and unification of society
00:35Among the measures a series of new fines for protesters ranging from the equivalent of
00:40340 euros a month's average salary for stenciling to
00:45680 euros for wearing a mask against tear gas to 1700 for possessing fireworks or blocking roads
00:52Qualification requirements for new police hires have been scrapped a move that protest leaders fear will lead to pro-regime
00:59Goon squads being quickly brought in to assist in the crackdown
01:03The amendments also allow for civil servants to be fired more easily potentially weeding out critics from government services
01:12Georgia's political opposition believes the outcome of October's election is itself the result of foreign interference
01:19from Moscow
01:20The victorious pro-russian Georgian Dream Party is led by the oligarch Bidzina
01:25Ivanashvili who made his billions in Russia
01:28It has already pushed through laws similar to Russian ones aimed at cracking down on freedom of speech and
01:35LGBTQ plus rights
01:37recent massive street protests followed the party's decision to suspend Georgia's
01:42Application to join the EU a move polls suggest is opposed by 80% of the population
01:48the latest laws further fueling fears of an authoritarian turn away from the West and
01:54towards Russia