The U.S. warned Georgia that it’s risking relations with NATO and the European Union by pressing ahead with a “foreign agent” law that has sparked massive protests.

The ruling Georgian Dream party’s “Kremlin-inspired” legislation and “anti-Western rhetoric put Georgia on a precarious trajectory,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. “The statements and actions of the Georgian government are incompatible with the democratic values that underpin membership in the EU and NATO and thus jeopardize Georgia’s path to Euro-Atlantic integration.”

The draft law was intended to silence critics and destroy Georgia’s civil society, Miller said in a statement late Wednesday.

The warning came after riot police again used tear gas, pepper spray and water cannon against tens of thousands of protesters rallying outside the parliament in the capital Tbilisi, as Georgian Dream lawmakers approved the draft law on the “transparency of foreign influence” in its second reading.

The party founded by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s richest man, is pressing on with the legislation that targets foreign funding of non-governmental organizations, despite U.S. and EU appeals to abandon it. They’ve criticized the measure as similar to one used by President Vladimir Putin to crush domestic opposition in Russia.

On Monday, Ivanishvili lashed out at the West, saying a “global war party” was attempting to use NGOs to oust his government and push Georgia into a conflict with Russia.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who called those claims a “blatant lie,” has sided with the protesters and criticized the “unprovoked” use of force by police. She has vowed to veto the legislation she calls a “Russian law” if it’s passed by parliament.

The EU on Wednesday “strongly” condemned the crackdown on protesters, who have rallied in huge numbers against the law since Georgian Dream announced the measure on April 3.

Police said eight protesters were detained and seven policemen were injured during the latest clashes.

Georgian Dream, which faces parliamentary elections in October, attempted to pass the same law last year, only to withdraw it following violence between police and protesters.

The bill threatens fines and imprisonment for as long as five years for organizations or individuals that receive at least 20% of their income from abroad and fail to register with the government as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power.”

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