Police in Georgia have used water cannon and tear gas to disperse people, rallying in the capital, Tibleasi, against the controversial Foreign Influence Bill, which is seen as being Russian-inspired legislation targeting media freedoms and Civil Liberties. The country's interior Ministry said that protestors confronted law enforcers, forcing them to use special means. The Georgian government plans to adopt the bill despite the protests and warnings from the EU that it could derail to build the country's integration into the European Union. The BBC's Ryan Dimitri sent this report from Tbilisi.

After more than two weeks of peaceful protests, Georgian police used water cannons to disperse the demonstrators in central Tbilisi. Riat police moved in to clear the main avenue outside Parliament.

There's announcement and a warning from the police for to disperse. The Riat police have already used water canons and pepper spray, urging to push these protestors out of the main avenue. But as we can see, they're bullying. They're not planning to go anywhere.

Russians, Russians, they chant in reference to the government, the government which introduced a repressive law, opposed by the protesters.

The government says they will push through this law.

They say that they push it, but they don't know that us, Georgian peoples, would rather die than be the slaves of Russians. We will die for Georgia, and we will never be the slaves of Russians.

As police used more force, the crowd became more defiant because they believe their government is acting in Russia's interests. These protests were sparked by a controversial bill that targets civil society and is seen as a threat to Georgia's democracy. On Monday, the country's governing party organized a mass rally in support of the bill. Its leadership accused the West and civil society organizations of attempting a revolution and pledged to adopt the bill to defend Georgia's sovereignty. Georgia Georgia is a candidate country to join the European Union. This long-awaited status was granted just a few months ago. But since the introduction of this bill, both Brussels and Washington warned that its adoption would derail the country from the EU. The ongoing crisis is now more than the fight against the undesired law. It has become the struggle for Georgia's European future. Rehan Dimitri, BBC News, Tbilisi.

Let's speak now to Tinutin Japerinze, who's an analyst at Eurasia Group, also a native Georgian. Welcome to BBC News. Tinutin, when you look at these scenes, do you get a sense the government could have underestimated the response to this new law?

It's very good to be talking to you, and thank you very much for having me back. Well, not only did they underestimate the response to their decision to reintroduce what had already been proven as a deeply controversial bill last year, but the timing of this move is rather peculiar, and frankly, one could argue also illogical in a way. This is critically close to the October elections, where the Georgian dream has been hoping to secure a landslide win. The ruling party is growing visibly concerned now because people are not going home. They're relentless, and the rallies continue. This is something that the government did not see coming. It really caught them by surprise.

Indeed, the protesters have included a former government minister from the pro-Russian Georgia Georgian Dream Party. Does it suggest that the government has perhaps gone too far and is losing support?

It's a little bit too early to tell precisely how this will actually play out for the Georgian dream in terms of the elections. But what we can say with some certainty at this point is that those who were previously on the fence, not quite in the Georgian dream's camp, but also decisively against the return of the United National Movement, the main opposition party that was once founded by Michal Saakashvili, they're now in a bit of a limbo. So it's not just about the draft law, you see, but also the Georgian dream's founder, Bidziny Ivanishvili's speech on Monday night that really was very problematic for many, many Georgians, where he very openly promised to punish his so-called, as he said, criminal political rivals after the October election. This is a sign, I believe, that the Georgian dream is going much further than anyone could have anticipated and much faster, by the way, than even their opponents could have predicted at this point.

Okay, Tinnitus, Jeppe Ridge. They will have to leave it. Thank you very much for joining us.