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STORY: Mariam Tsertsvadze chugs a cup of coffee, packs a gas mask and heads out the door of her Tbilisi apartment.

Despite running on little sleep for the past few weeks, she says she’s full of energy.

She's one of thousands of Georgians engaging in nightly protests against a government bill on so-called foreign agents.

It would require organizations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence.

Critics have condemned it as authoritarian and Kremlin-inspired.

Tsertsvadze, who is the co-founder of the charity Animal Project and receives funding from Western donors, fears the legislation would undermine her work.

"It's very insulting and demeaning to us because all we do, all the local NGOs do is to work for the Georgian society." // "The normal NGOs that work on human rights, that work with the regional organizations, they have very limited resources there. And we all need this help from international organizations and donors and they are putting such a barrier with this new bill that nobody can do anything right now, and Georgia will be left completely isolated from the West.”

At previous protests, police had cleared crowds with tear gas, stun grenades and water cannons.

The draft law has drawn comparisons to laws used to suppress dissent in Russia, with whom Georgia fought and lost a short war in 2008.

The ruling Georgian Dream party says the bill will promote transparency.

For Tsertsvadze, the bill is high stakes.

“As a citizen of Georgia, I fear that it will completely change the foreign course of Georgia. And we will be left completely isolated from the Western world because everybody, our partners from the EU, U.S. are saying that this bill, if it's passed, it's going to be it's going to close so many doors that we worked so hard, so many years to be open, especially with the EU candidacy right now.”

The standoff is part of a wider struggle that could determine whether Georgia moves closer towards Europe or back under Moscow's influence.

Georgia, a country of 3.7 million people, has seen turmoil, war and revolution since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Tsertsvadze says she and her fellow protesters are determined to continue demonstrating.

“Either you are on the right side of history or you are on the wrong side of history. I believe, I strongly, strongly believe, that I am on the right of the history.”