yes it's taking place. and. this is. minneapolis on the wife of the man whose death has sent americans marching and demanding change thousands of memorial service in the city at a private service friends and family of george floyd have come together to say goodbye was the reverend al sharpton saying it's time for police to quote keep their knees. also. ban on gatherings to

hold a mass vigil on this the 31st anniversary of the tiananmen square massacre. it's good to have you with us in minneapolis in the u.s. thousands of people have come together to remember the wife of george floyd it is the 1st of 3 planned memorial services for the african american who died in police custody last week mourners at the ceremony stood for a total of 8 minutes and 46 seconds steps the amount of time that the police officer held his knee on floyd's neck according to a criminal complaint the timespan has become a symbol of police brutality in the days since floyd's death with protesters using it as a way to honor him. the bettman civil rights activist the reverend al

sharpton he led the service and he delivered a fiery eulogy take a listen dogged freud's story has been the story of black folks because ever since 401 years ago. the reason we could never be who we wanted and dream debian is you kept you'll need on on. what happened to for our it happens every day in this country an education in health services and in every area of american life is for us to stand up in charges made and say kid show me off on. fahri words there from the reverend al sharpton let's take this now the minneapolis our correspondent stefan simons is standing by. stefan talk to me

a little bit about how the audience all the people there outside you could be inside how they reacted to that eulogy. well during the eulogy of the reverend childs and they reacted as fiery speech was as you pointed out there was a lot of applause cheering and. jubilant behavior around here the crowd behind me thinned out by now a little bit people are. to town now they're going their way and and we've probably . more protests throughout the day but yeah absolutely rights of people we talked about talked with here saying the same way they feel exactly as the reverend described it with a knee or a boot in there and on their neck and every day of their life and that's what they want to change and they say this is exactly why this will not stop until it stops

that means they will be protesting and making their voices heard one way or another until this is not the case anymore until they're not having the next they say under somebody's boot or any step on there's also outrage over what we saw earlier this week president trump posing outside a washington church holding a bible and his handling of the george for crisis i mean it's affecting his ratings or his approval ratings isn't it. it just doesn't salute the news polls say that democratic is some true presidential candidate joe biden is winding the gap between himself and the president's approval ratings are not good at all they actually hit a 6 time high in the months now at the disapproval ratings for donald trump that is

and if you ask the people here in minneapolis especially of course the african-american population here in the midst and in the fight and protest. against police brutality the president didn't well he probably didn't have any friends here and for sure he didn't make any friends with the law in order beach or statement he gave to become the law and order president people want law and order but they want to equality justice when law and order is a flight and they don't feel the president is the one who gives that to them and all this anger do you think it's going to be channeled into a lasting movement to bring about change. i think it will over time i think this movement as the reverend sharpton called it and as many

many people who we're talking to are calling it they say it's a movement now i think if this movement matures in organization in court in the nation. and in dialogue you know this is to the point those people who want to talk and want to dialogue they don't want to torch buildings and loot buildings these are that was a different crowd largely who did this but those people here now they want to talk they want to. kef communication with with the other parties involved in changing america they say in in getting rid of systemic. racism in this country and they want to see action. 7 sundin's with this story in minneapolis for us tonight stefan as always thank you. the german football association has cleared the way for bundesliga players to show their support for the protests in the u.s. several players did so during matches last weekend short ones in sanchez got

a yellow card for removing his shirt the association is not taking disciplinary action against the players. board's journalist chris hearings and he's not only attuned to the bundesliga he like myself is a native of the united states presidents does talk to him 1st about this bond is legal we know that sports and political protests usually historically are like oil and water they don't like to go together but how important is it that we've seen the buddhist league say yes you can protest i definitely think it's a step in the right direction brant you know if the german football league had handed down sanctions you know for black athletes one team the senseless killing of other blacks to stop. it would have been a slap in the face of humanity even in my opinion it's completely understandable because i think in james san shows example we saw another picture of marcus toran

the other black athletes that it that it could have been them you know it could have been them and unfortunately i think it was a. a a move to 1st survival more than a protest against any form of politics obviously but i think it's really important for those that are not personally affected to involve themselves yahshua kimmage a player for byron munich a white footballer has urged his club to do something together as a team head of their upcoming fixture so i think you know those steps you know would help obviously with the green light given by the league we'll see more protests and i just to communicate the message the message of unity and obviously stop killing people senselessly that's exactly right i mean let's go from european football to american football you know we've seen in the united states we've seen people coming out and and standing together condoning peaceful political protest right but when the n.f.l.

quarterback colin kaepernick you're a member here of course you know when he peacefully protested police brutality simply by taking a need airing the national anthem. it was at 3 years ago. i mean it was a different story wasn't it yeah well he caught hell you know for that action lost his job you know tried to fight his way back into the league as a professional american football or you know but he was condemned you know for the majority across the n.f.l. community but in the light of this george floyd incident a lot of people have backpedaled players that once you know said that you know they didn't understand that that move coaches have come out as well saying you know we were wrong to disrespect collin kapur nic there was this aha moment you know that you feel that's universal not only in the american football but i think you know across the globe as we can see you know from the people protesting together yeah you know beyond sports though i mean just looking at it from what you've

experienced in the united states what you experience living here do you have real hope that george floyd's death is going to lead to significant change and i was telling someone earlier today you know you get the feeling that the. is this like staccato one incident after another to react and then you forget until the next one right we have a great interview a drone bullets hang on. he's a black german footballer and you know he spoke on one topic that could be a service some sort of remedy that's education catching people as they're young reeducate a lot of people in many cases you know but i think we need to see more initiatives and you know more steps in the right direction of unity from those that are not personally affected you know i think that would be the strongest you know way to communicate this is a human rights issue more then just you know over race issue and you know each one teach one you know to keep it really simple yeah and it's like this man said i heard earlier today he said it's not about black people it's about people chris is

always good reporting good to have here thank you ok in hong kong thousands of demonstrators have turned out to mark the 31st anniversary of the massacre in tiananmen square authorities say they refused to allow a rally because of the coronavirus but opponents insist it's simply a curb on freedom. an act of defiance. protesters pushed down the barriers meant to stop them from congregating thousands flooded into hong kong's victoria park lighting up the evening with a sea of candles candlelight vigils and minutes of silence were held across the city. some scuffles broke out when protesters tried to set up roadblocks police used pepper spray to disperse them and several people were arrested. it was the 1st time unrest took place on the 10 men anniversary and the 1st time that hong

kong authorities banned all commemoration they said it was necessary to enforce social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic but to protesters it looked like an excuse to limit their freedom. that people must be concerned and worried but we can't stop commemorating just because we are afraid or worried we can only do it step by step we can only try our best to safeguard our freedom to march and assemble and try to remind the people around us our next generation and even the older generation how unbearable our region is. i am. china has started clamping down on protesters in hong kong after a year of demonstrations on the streets of the city. earlier on thursday a controversial law was approved making it a crime to disrespect china's national anthem beijing also plans to impose national security laws in hong kong the fear is it will allow china to tighten its grip and

suppress freedom in hong kong. here as some other stories now making headlines around the world russia has intensified efforts to clean up a major fuel spill the northern siberia environmentalists say it's the worst such accident ever in the arctic and that the ecosystem will need at least a decade to fully recover president vladimir putin has ordered a state of emergency german chancellor angela merkel has firmly rejected suggestions that she might seek a 5th term in power in 2018 merkel said that she would step down when her current government leaves office which is due to happen next year it remains unclear who will replace merkel as german chancellor. is to be removed from germany's blue chip index the dax that's what the dax is operated george burgess is telling is the coronavirus pandemic as centonze as value plunging last week the government agreed to a 9000000000 euro rescue package for the country's biggest airline. many governments have told people to keep 2 metres apart to stop the spread of the corona virus but

some people as we all know find it hard to do that a shoemaker in romania has come up with a way of forcing people to take steps to keep their distance. and let me. ask where me 0 of leather and 2 days of work go into making this shoe now it's not for a clown. it's a european size $75.00 social distancing shoe made by romanian shoemaker we go to lou. it's 2 people wear the shoes at the same time they'll be $1.00 metres apart. so people not respecting the social distancing rules and i said to myself let's make issue either to punish them or that they could actually wear and maybe that like they'll keep their distance. luke has been making

shoes since the age of 16 and many of his designs end up in theatres and opera houses and one of the other social distancing shoes well he's already received 5 orders. are georgian e.w. news from berlin chris is up next with the business news to ground 0 i bet you he will not be wearing those for many and choose. what secrets lie behind swallows. discover new adventures in 360 degree. and explore fascinating world heritage sites. w world heritage 316 get me up now.