Protesters have smashed barriers at Georgia’s parliament after it approved a divisive “foreign agents” bill.

Riot police used tear gas and sprayed crowds with water cannon as they entered the grounds of the Georgian parliament in the capital Tbilisi.

Sky’s international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn, who is covering the protests in Tbilisi, said there was a “febrile atmosphere” and a “real sense anger, frustration and massive disappointment” that MPs voted for the bill.

Follow live: Riot police move in on Georgia protesters

The legislation is seen by some as threatening press and civic freedoms and there are concerns it’s modelled on laws used by President Vladimir Putin in neighbouring Russia.

The proposed law would require media and non-governmental organisations and other non-profit groups to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of funding from abroad.

Demonstrations have engulfed Georgia for weeks ahead of the bill’s final reading on Tuesday.

Critics also see it as a threat to the country’s aspirations to join the European Union.

The bill is nearly identical to one that the governing Georgian Dream party was pressured to withdraw last year after street protests.

Opponents have denounced the bill as “the Russian law” because Moscow uses similar legislation to stigmatise independent news media and organisations critical of the Kremlin.

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A brawl erupted in the parliament as MPs were debating the bill on Tuesday.

Georgian Dream MP Dimitry Samkharadze was seen charging towards Levan Khabeishvili, the chairman of main opposition party United National Movement, after Mr Khabeishvili accused him of organising mobs to beat up opposition supporters.

‘Absolutely insane’

Former Georgian president Giorgi Margvelashvili called the bill a “joke” and a “replica” of one introduced by Vladimir Putin to “control his own society” in Russia.

He said the Georgian people would “not fall under that mistake” and that protesters were standing “firm, calm, peaceful and for freedom”.

“We will not let them prevail. We will overcome,” he told Sky News.

A protester said it was “absolutely insane that a country like Georgia has accepted this bill as it’s a complete violation for our future”.

The medical student said the bill “makes us more far away from Europe and the rest of the world”, while bringing Georgia closer to the Russian government.

Another protester outside parliament said: “Our government is a Russian government, we don’t want Russia, Russia is never the way, I’m Georgian and therefore I am European.”

One demonstrator said they had been trying to protest “peacefully” but were now “feeling anger, pain and disappointment that again in our history there is a government that goes against our wishes”.

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The president of the European Parliament has shown support for the Georgian people in a post on social media.

“Tbilisi, we hear you! We see you!” Roberta Metsola said.

Alex Scrivener, director of the Democratic Security Institute, said there was time for the law to be turned around.

He told Sky News: “The law passing isn’t the end of the vote.

“The president of Georgia who is aligned with the protesters can veto legislation and that buys us time.”

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has said she will veto it but her decision can be overridden by another vote in parliament, controlled by the ruling party and its allies.

Two prison officers have been killed after an attack on a convoy carrying an inmate – with the convict reportedly on the run.

Three other people are seriously injured after the reported “ramming car attack” on a motorway in Incarville in the northwestern France region of Eure.

Footage from the scene shows two hooded men with firearms and a prison van which appears to have been in a collision with a black vehicle.

Several men used two vehicles to target the convoy, a police source has told the French news agency AFP.

The escaped detainee is a man named Mohamed who was convicted of “burglary theft” and is nicknamed “The Fly”, according to Le Parisien.

He had appeared before a judge in Rouen this morning accused of attempted homicide, BFM TV reports.

The attack on the prison van took place while he was being transported back to prison in Evreux, the French broadcaster adds.

The escaped prisoner fled with those who attacked the convoy on Tuesday, Le Parisien reports.

One of the vehicles used to target the convoy was found burned-out in a location which was not specified by the police source who spoke to AFP.

The prison convoy was targeted at a tollbooth on the A154 motorway at about 11am local time, according to reports.

French justice minister Eric Dupond-Moretti posted on X: “A prison convoy was attacked in Eure. Two of our prison officers have died, three are seriously injured.

“All my thoughts are with the victims, their families and their colleagues.”

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Watching a live drone feed, it was possible to make out three people running down a street in a frontline town in northeastern Ukraine.

“Are they Russians?” I asked a Ukrainian soldier, who was also on the ground in Vovchansk and was showing us the footage from a secret location as we spoke to him via video link from outside the town.

“Yes, yes,” said Denys, 42, the commander of a reconnaissance unit.

“They come in groups like this of three to five soldiers.”

Follow war latest: US confirms aid arriving on frontline

Other footage from Monday shared with Sky News appeared to be of more Russian troops inside the town – just three days after Russia launched a surprise assault across its border into Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.

Sky News has verified the location of the images.

“They are advancing in a residential area of Vovchansk and moving into people’s houses,” Denys said.

“This is just the first wave… They’re testing our defences, they’re preparing their artillery. When they completely enter the town, they’ll bring in their reserves.”

Denys was speaking from a position where he and his team were operating their drone, hunting for Russian targets for Ukrainian forces to strike.

Asked what their main task was, he spun the camera he was speaking to us on around to let one of his soldiers – he described them as his “fellow hero brothers” – answer.

“We will fight under these difficult conditions by whatever means,” said the serviceman, called Andrii.

“We simply have no other choice because behind us are our homes, our families, our children.”

Russian forces have unleashed a ferocious barrage of fire against the town, using a combination of airstrikes, gliding bombs, armed drones and heavy artillery.

Another feed, shared by Denys, captured apocalyptic scenes of smoke spiralling into the air from multiple impact sites across Vovchansk.

“The town was not prepared for this bombardment,” he said.

Asked how dangerous it was for him and his team, Denys panned around his makeshift base.

“If they target us with a guided bomb… it’ll be a mass grave,” he said, smiling.

Denys had been a senior police officer and then a lawyer before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Then, like many civilians, he volunteered to serve to defend his country and has been fighting ever since.

But, in an unusual move for a member of the military, Denys has publicly expressed frustration at what he believes was a failure by his own side to ensure Ukraine’s northeastern border with Russia was better defended by landmines and fortifications.

This was despite the Ukrainian military repelling an initial assault by Russia against the Kharkiv region in the first months of the war.

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On Friday “we saw the first breaches of the state border line by enemy armoured vehicles – the initial rush,” he said. “They passed without encountering any mined positions.”

Explaining why he had chosen to speak out about his concerns, he said: “We’re fighting for freedom and truth. We defend our interests, the interests of our state, voluntarily. And we believe that this truth needs to be spoken.”

Having fought to defend Kharkiv once already, Denys said he and his team now “feel some deja vu”.

He added: “It’s shocking. We’re having to defend ourselves again – losing territory and the lives of soldiers.”

He also said, this time around, the Russians were more prepared.

“The enemy prepared their FPV [attack drone] forces,” he said. “They loaded up with an incredible amount of MLRS [multiple launch rocket systems] and artillery.”

As well as capturing images of Russian troops on the ground, the drone footage also showed Ukraine fighting back.

One clip was of what Denys said was a group of Russian troops on the edge of Vovchansk, carrying a wounded soldier on a stretcher.

His team relayed the coordinates of the location to another unit. Moments later, what looks to be a Ukrainian strike chugs up smoke in the area of the Russian position.

Read more:
Russia ‘advancing from multiple positions’
Putin seizes chance to hit Kharkiv

As he prepared to fight into the night, Denys had a message for Ukraine’s top commanders.

“Trust your soldiers, your officers. Trust those on the ground. Give them the opportunity, give them help, give them the chance to defend this land,” he said.

“There are many people here who voluntarily came to give their lives for this country. The command should respect them, trust them, and allow them to do their job.”