this is d.w. news live from berlin a violent protest on the streets of paris demonstrations in the capital and other french cities marked the anniversary of the yellow best movement and police respond with water cannons and tear gas. also coming up it's been 30 years since the velvet revolution brought down communism and what used to be czechoslovakia now checks are back on the streets demanding more democracy they're calling for the resignation of prime minister andre bobbish. and germany's high flying green party relax the

leadership duo didn't seem to bring garner unprecedented support to the country. i'm there in evanston it's good to have you with us protesters have staged a series of demonstrations across france to mark the 1st anniversary of a yellow vest movement police turned water cannon on activists in paris but the protesters targeted a bank the yellow vest actions peaked at the end of last year bringing hundreds of thousands on to the streets to oppose high living costs and equality but the numbers of people taking part have since fallen. to w a correspondent lisa lewis is in paris following all the developments there for us so lisa what have you been seeing what have protesters been doing and what are

their demands. well the protesters were trying to march through paris but when they arrived at plaza tell you it's in the southern and southern paris the police blocked off that square so they wouldn't let them move on bostock destroying things and that's why the police then called off fuel through station for that demo that was planned in the center of paris now when you look at these people it's very difficult to say who they are looks like a mix of all sorts of people black blocks on a case and also more moderate yellow vests what's what's clear is that there is now a real standoff between the police and the protesters here in paris well we should remind our viewers that this movement began a year ago it was far by higher fuel prices that the government introduced people put on those vests and took 1st to the streets to protest the fuel prices but then it morphed into a broader protest with every saturday hundreds of thousands of people going out in

the streets to protest against the government more broadly but lisa just how much support does this movement have today. well there is still more than half of the french are still supporting the movement according to a poll but more than 60 percent of the french are saying we don't want them to continue to protest so primally you know this underlying lack of trust with of the government but also this i'm happiness about how where the society's heading is still there but when you look at the streets look at what's happening every saturday there are very few protesters today was going to be a big day but even for today the police was only exploring expecting thousands of protesters which is obviously not very much across france compared to what happened in the very beginning as you just said where you could see hundreds of thousands in the streets that has really trickled down although this underlying sentiment of

unhappiness is still there all right so if there is this underlying sentiment of dissatisfaction with the current government what's been the government's response lisa how has france changed a year on. well the government reacted to the protest they. withdrew the you know this controversial few tax bills introduced some other measures for example they increased the minimum wage but it looked like you know they could do whatever they wanted the purchases would never really be happy because what this protest is about what these protests are about is really about a model of society that they don't like they don't want all these reforms but the government is just you know continuing to do them for example just a few weeks ago they implemented the government implemented a new reform to reform the unemployment benefit system quite a tough reform really they've just done that they're about to reform the pension

system they're just continuing their reform plan as you know is they had as ever not called the president had announced before the elections and that hasn't really changed and that's also why people you know continue to be unhappy and dissatisfied with the government. is lisa lewis reporting for us from paris thank you very much . now polls have closed in sri lanka where people have been voting for a new president a record number of 35 candidates were on the ballot is expected to be a tight race between the 2 frontrunners former defense secretary go to buy a rajapaksa who oversaw the defeat of tamil separatist 10 years ago is facing government minister said jean premadasa the poll was monitored by thousands of election observers including dozens from the european union. sri lankan face the longest ballot paper in the country's history with 35 candidates vying to be the

next president turnout was high and one of the main concerns a very to security. again we need someone who can come forward to safeguard our people. really. strongly. believe. in this. just 7 months ago terrorists attacked 3 churches and 3 luxury hotels in the country's capital colombo on easter sunday killing more than 250 people the bombings lead to resentment against muslim communities fears of violence and had a severe impact on the country's vital tourism industry the government admitted to failure of the intelligence services and that's believed to be behind the current president's decision not to seek another term. there are 2 clear front runners in this election former defense secretary. who served under his

brother's presidency his tough stance on security has garnered him support his rival. has also toughened his line on the fence. but other issues such as equality for ethnic minorities and unemployment are also playing on for his minds results are expected on sunday or monday depending on whether one candidate gets 50 percent of the verdict. let's get a check now some of the other stories making news around the world at least one person has been killed during protests in iran the unrest on erupted after a surprise decision by the government to raise fuel prices by 50 percent and introduce rationing protestors blocked traffic in tehran while at other parts of the country demonstrations drew tear gas fire from the police. the teenage suspect in thursday's california high school shooting has succumbed to his grooms and died in a hospital the 16 year old allegedly fired at random at

a high school near los angeles killing 2 students before turning the gun on himself . there have been more violent clashes in showing him the latest come after the government announced plans to hold a referendum to replace the country's constitution which is a key demand of the protesters more than 20 people have been killed after nearly a month of civil unrest which is showing no sign of abating. hundreds of thousands of people have gathered in the czech republic capital prague to demand the resignation of prime minister andre bobbish opponents of bobbish accuse the populous leader of profiting from his office and conflicts of interest he's one of the czech republic richest men the protests coincide with events commemorating the start of the $989.00 velvet revolution that toppled the communist regime in what was then czechoslovakia organizers say they want the czech republic to rediscover the pro-democracy ideals that fueled the protests 30 years ago.

standing by for us in prague correspondent jonathan crane jonathan good to see you tell us what is happening where you are right now. well this is the latest in a series of protests organized by the activist group 1000000 moments of democracy and initially the estimates suggest that this is by far the biggest today how safe asa passing the course really and it came to let me just behind me. now as you say this current sites with the anniversary of the velvet revolution the food of communism and czechoslovakia and that fact hasn't been lost on the protests here the people we've spoken to say this isn't just about fighting corruption this isn't just about demanding the resignation of the prime minister andre popish it's about not taking for granted all these how freedoms little timo crissy there was for so hard for 30 years ago now bobbish is drawing comparisons with donald trump in the

year i said bob she leads a populist party he is a very rich businessmen as you say and he's accused of being in conflict of interest because as well as being the prime minister his business is going to trust france people say he is still benefiting and using his position as prime minister to further those business interests now i did speak to one of the protest leaders benjamin row and he explained to me why people have come out today well the main idea behind me in a moment for democracy is the active is ation of civil society and to make people to realize that every single one of us has responsibility and that we can do something and change our way of thinking and change even the politics. all right for some very lofty goals there this young man says he wants to change czech politics but jonathan what exactly does he mean by that. well they said they've all foods that prime minister. either gives up its conflicts

of interests he resigns or they will continue to protest and up the ante now i think they would be the 1st to admit that regime change is not going to happen just like that because bobby she is very very popular still his boss he's polling at 30 percent by far the most popular party in the country and if you go outside of prague in the regions right these weird out of voters with promises of more money more money and pensions you know the party is still very popular sites about the opposition is quite fragmented quite ineffective so there's nobody really to challenge him even his coalition party safe democrats won't walk out on the coalition because they know they would face the lexer obscurity so it is still going to be very difficult for the prime minister to go anyway i think protesting is one thing the regime change is probably quite another. correspondent jonathan crane reporting for us from prague the czech capital thank you very much. germany's greens have realized that the leadership duo that has helped the party achieve

president popularity in opinion polls robert tomic and alina babcock each one more than 90 percent of the votes cast by party delegates at a conference in the city of bell felt they took over the party leadership 2 years ago since then the greens have seen a surge of support mainly due to a growing voter concern about environmental issues and the climate crisis. and brady is following the german green party meeting for us and joins us now from the city of beulah felt hello to you kate so the 2 co-leaders of the german green party were reelected with a record majority clearly party delegates are very happy with their leadership what makes them so successful. will read these 2 leaders the g.o.i. with writing together by the green party just a couple of years ago and since then they've really brought the winds of change to the party and a new sense of unity which for a long time was. one of the setbacks for the green party for many many years and

since then this back combat book they've been on a mission to prove that the green party here in germany is no longer just a one issue party and we've seen as well today in this weekend here at the party conference here in bella felt they've been focusing on issues such as housing even foreign policy and also economic policy which has always been one of the trickiest points for the green party and of course it goes without saying that because of the ongoing climate change debate and climate protection debate going on not only in germany but around the world right now this is really given the green party here in germany a chance to shine and put them back in the limelight and also offer an alternative to voices who have become wary of many of germany's more established policies like the conservative c.d.u. and the social democrats. speaking about the green party as an alternative to the mainstream german parties give us a sense of where the green party fits today in germany's political landscape.

well the green party right now is very much a part of a much bigger change that's coming through german politics and they have to stay in very much true to some of the left leaning policies particularly when it comes to the economy which will be interesting to see how that might play out if they were to form a coalition with calls conservatives come the next election of course. will be absent from the election she's already announced that she won't be running for office again and so that will be interesting to see how the green party will be able to find footing in germany's new political landscape which has changed dramatically in recent years but so far the greens on a steady road to success come those 2021 elections but the big question now is whether they can keep that momentum going for the next 2 years we've already seen the opinion polls that the polling currently in 2nd position with around 20 percent of the vote and that became a reality in may's european elections as well but the big question now is this

a is whether they can keep that momentum going for the next 2 years and of course then the question for the green party will be who will that counted it be an allin a.