it's. this is the news live from berlin hong kong prepares for local elections on sunday but authorities warned alcohol off the book just violence breaks out again pro-democracy demonstrators want citizens to send to beijing a message at the ballot box also coming up colombia's president calls for dialogue to try to end the nationwide demonstrations protestors defied a curfew in the capital both went on to vent their anger against planned economic reforms at least 3 people have been killed since protests began. and with german

neo nazis demonstrating in on over against journalists we take a look at the culture of the far right movement a campaign to intimidate people calm the 1st. time call assman welcome to the program we start in hong kong where polls will open in a few hours in the city's unisa poll elections the vote is seen as a test of kerry lam's pro beijing governments and a referendum on the pro-democracy movement that has rocked the city for months authorities in hong kong have threatened to call off the election if islands breaks out campaigners hope the campaign can send a peaceful signal about the direction of the city. chris chan is back out on the street the pro-democracy campaigner hopes he can persuade people to give him their protest vote. well. after

a massive moment i think an election can reflect public opinion to some extent another point is it's time for us to calm down and tell the government in a civilized way what we want to do. hong kong has been rocked by almost 6 months of under arrest some of it violent protesters have been calling on the pro beijing government for more democracy many here fear their legal and political tommy is under threat from china student chowpatty was shot by police during one demonstration he's now calling on people to use their vote. i hope the people of hong kong can cast their ballots and achieve more democracy in a peaceful way please cherish your vote i hope everyone can come out and vote tomorrow night and. meanwhile the siege at hong kong polytechnic university continues the scene of some of the most violent intense clashes with police in

recent days is still the site where a small group of protesters holed up they've been there for a week determined not to become one of the 1000 or so who've been arrested for taking part in a siege that turned violent. those running for election say they want to pursue a peaceful route forward but everyone knows that these local elections won't change policy all the pro china attitude at the top of hong kong's government. let's bring in clifford conan who has covered that region extensively 1st of all in terms of these elections these are local district elections how much can the results on sunday really shape the future of hong kong well it's ironic in a way because these elections were traditionally about you know getting their garbage collected and putting a park bench and and they've taken on this huge significance because until now we've had no indication really beyond these pictures of mass demonstrations and counter protests and police. and all of the things that we've seen we've no

indication of how people feel on the ground in hong kong so they take on a new significance in that case because people actually go to the ballot box which as we know is also a limited thing that you can do in hong kong right now and should give us an indication that way or if these demonstrations are the big issue hovering over these election how have these protests factored into campaigning adding up to the vote well in the companies i notice that some of the protests protest pro independence are pro-democracy calm states have been putting information on the handouts and things that they've very much into the camps that we see on the streets of hong kong but the pro beijing side you've got the pro-democracy side. basically we're going to get an indication what they're expecting is that people will possibly make their feelings known they're quite angry with the government who they are they're holding responsible for causing this chaos in the city so it could be a slap in the face for the government i think i mean really hong kong of course is a mixture of democracy and also some direct rule from china this is one of the few

chances that hong kong gets to really practice democracy in full this is a direct democratic vote absolutely the other main votes like such as the vote for chief executive are largely wage skewed in favor of beijing and this is a direct vote so it is going to be a very democratic vote i think will give us an indication no and everyone's worried about calling it because we literally have had no idea until now how these mass demonstrations will translate into people exercising their vote. now we heard about those threats that this vote could be suspended if there's any more violence is that an empty threat or could that actually happen well i was talking to people in the run up and they were saying that they could very well suspend this because how much worse can things get you know short of beijing actually intervening but i think the government is also perhaps indication that it could be ready for compromise by allowing these to go ahead and they're prepared to show that they're that they it's the 1st time they've actually made any kind of concession so maybe

this could be the start of something you could be an indication that we could see perhaps a road to dialogue ok and that vote taking place in a few hours sunday in hong kong. thank you very much. our those get a check now of some of the other stories making news around the world u.s. vice president mike pence has made a surprise visit with u.s. troops stationed in iraq he also met with iraqi kurdish leaders they are making reassurances that the country would stand with its kurdish allies the visit comes after president donald trump ordered u.s. forces the pullout from neighboring northern syria 2 months ago. a car bomb in the turkish held border town in northern syria has killed 9 people and monitoring group says 2 children were among those killed there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing. pope francis has arrived in japan during his 4 day trip he will visit nagasaki and hiroshima where he's expected to warn of the

dangers of nuclear weapons francis is on the 2nd and final leg of an asian tour that began in thailand. members of germany's ruling conservative c.d.u. party have rallied around their leader. power and ours had told delegates that she would quit if they didn't back her our took over from chancellor uncle americal as c.d.u. leader last year but the party's popularity has got fall under her leadership. well staying in germany neo nazis are engaged in a campaign to intimidate journalists the far right ultra nationalist party has targeted 3 reporters who are investigating the neo nazi scene more than 100 ultranationalist took their message of intimidating journalists to the streets of hung over on saturday the n.p.t. refers to journalists as quote enemies 7000 counter-demonstrators turned out to protest against them now we met one of the journalists who was being targeted by

the n.p.t. we met him at a secret location for his safety. and reality and is looking through his photos. he took this one at a far right extremist demonstration. a neo nazi stares towards his camera and they exude very clear jester photojournalist out in is used to this. kind of i wanna vent goes by in which we're not showing that they think we should be killed or injured and the top private lives should be invaded. at and his colleagues are investigating right wing extremism in germany he is known on the scene the militant group combat 18 has sent him letters addressed to andre jewish swine authorities say the letters are genuine and now at a knows the militants have his address. for that reason alone i've moved several times neo nazis got hold of my address and then at rallies they said hey i know

where you live and all come by but it's not only about me it puts other people in my private life in danger too on the border. is the deputy chairman of the far right extremist n.p.t. he has a criminal record for assault and incitement to hatred he mentions journalist andre addon by name in a speech. today i know and i have no doubt about this that one of our main enemies in the gutter press those who call themselves journalists is one called arden. our names are brought up and he mixes them with violent themes he doesn't say go get him instead he says i wouldn't shed many tears if something happened to him i would not say that something should happen to him but i would not shed many tears and from that everyone knows exactly what they should do. with those kinds of threats and feels abandoned by the author already is and the police. he alone is responsible for his own safety. of course i feel broken or if you have ever

experienced violence you carry it with you you can't just sweep it under the carpet and be done with it. all of us have experienced balance and threats my strategy for dealing with it is not to get scared. i won't allow myself to be afraid and that's how we all keep it up and keep going to their events because we want to show them that we will not be frightened off. that's why there is no doubt that he will go to the next neo nazi event to document it. is worth i don't want our democracy the social system in which i live to get into a situation where it is hollowed out and it topples over to the right we know from our own history where that can lead to fascism and mass murder and that is something i as a journalist want to prevent it is my duty. to talk and to add in takes his duty

more seriously than ever in these times of growing populism and nationalism in colombia protests have resumed amid growing anger against president right wing government comes as hundreds of thousands of colombians took to the streets in bogota and other cities earlier this week to protest economic social and security policies as part of a nationwide general strike earlier today do pay promised social reforms let's hear what he had to say. but if you did approach you must mana starting next week i will launch a national dialogue to strengthen the current a social policy agenda. we will work to develop a medium to long term vision. that what hope is to deal with inequality in our society. are let's get more on that now i'm joined by in the studio by avia i gave us who's been reporting extensively from colombia i mean in fact you were recently in bogota you know colombian citizens in the streets again we've seen

those frustrations just describe the situation for us i mean what's it like there and are those frustrations visible and in daily life in colombia while the president was mentioning inequality directly and that is probably the key word here and colombia is a wonderful place to live if you are rich if you are privileged it's a very tough country if you are under privileged and that is in part because the government does not offer policies that allow people to move up the ladder it is a country where people have to fight day by day to just get the minimum is a country where for 44 percent of the population earns less than the minimum wage therefore do not have access for example to pensions and all of that discomfort and all of that frustration is definitely something that you feel there every day and we heard the president's promising what he calls a national conversation what would that conversation look like what is he referring

to that well president do care came to power with a very clear plan of what he wanted to do and one of the things he wanted to do was do not make any concessions to position parties in order to achieve his presidential goals that means he ended a practice that was very commonplace in colombia in politics of for example offering some kind of public money to a certain party in order for that party to support a project the result has been that he has not been able to get through any of his laws and. office project basically done nothing for the country that means now he has to at least show signs of negotiation in order to at least talk to the opposition parties and that also means that he will have to talk to the sectors that are organizing these protests we're talking about teachers we're talking about universities we're talking about workers' unions in different parts of the country i cannot tell you if this is just an image thing if he's only sane yes let's talk and i'm open or if he actually will do something about that blockade now protests

this large i mean we're talking about up to a quarter 1000000 people in the streets there are in colombia i mean how is this movement become so big and where do we think it will go well the main reason is that everyone had a different reason to go on the streets students had budgets that were fighting for many people are not pleased with how the government has dealt with the peace process in colombia there are social activists that are being killed every day there's members of the former that are also being killed the government has not really been effective in solving that problem colombia's problems are very complex it would take a whole program to analyze them so everyone had a different motivation to go on the streets and that's why it became so big and this particular case it was certainly also motivated by the movements that we've seen in other latin american countries recently where people saw that there's a possibility to force our government into action by going on the streets and that definitely was a factor as well certainly not the only country saying protests in the region

javier gave us thanks very much. this is news live from berlin up next our series reporter goes to denmark in a school where students learned through coldplay you can always find the latest news on our website dot com i'm caught up and i'll be back with more news after the top of the hour. every journey begins with the 1st step and every language with the 1st word published in the group. nico is in germany to learn german and why not come with him for the simple online on your mobile and free to sapps d w z e learning course nikos free german made easy. their wealth isn't calculable. their egos insatiable. their rivalry.