♪ ♪ a police station set on fire during a third night of unrest in the u.s. city of minneapolis. protesters gather in response to the death of an unarmed black man in police custody. presidenent trump calls the protesters thugs. warned theent has company's survival is at stake. france eases coronavirus restrictions.

restaurants will be allowed to reopen next week. in paris, diners will have to sit outside. those are headlines this hour. you are watching "france 24." a police station has been set on fire by protesters in the u.s. city of minneapolis during a third night of violent unrest. protests erupted over the death of an unarmed black man in police custody. george floyd was filmed struggling for breath while a white policeman stood on his neck. theident trump who called video of his death shocking also took to twitter to call the protesters thugs. the third precinct in the apple us in flames as police face the anger of a wounded community. the police station was evacuated afteter crowds fororcibly enterd the building and set it ablaze. elsewhere, businesses were looted and cars were set on fire as a third night of prototests

against police brutality turned violent in minneapolis and its twin cities st. paul. the national guard has been deployed and a state of emergency declared in both cities. in a press conference, the minneapolis mayor said he understood people's frustration but condemned the violence. >> there is a lot of pain and anger right now in our city. i understand that. our entire city recognizes that. what we have seen over the past several hours and the past couple of nights in terms of looting is unacceptable. >> protesters are voicing outrage after george floyd died in police custody on monday. peaceful demonstrations earlier on thursday called for the arrest of the officers involved in t the incident. >> the treatment of black people in america is ridiculous. it is not ok at all. too many times we have had to

peacefully protest and we are never seeing results. we never get a conviction. this image shows 46-year-old george floyd struggling to breathe as a police officer kneels on his neck. he was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead a short time later. seseveral investigations into te incident are currently underway. police are bracing for more clashes witith protests spreading to other cities across the united states including denver, los angeles, chicago, anand phoenix. ananchor: twitter has hidden one of donalald trump's tweets about minneapolis. it now comes with a warning that it glorifies violence. soldiers were on hand to intervene in the unrest writing that when the looting starts, the shooting starts. president trump yesterday signed an executive order which removes

some of the legal protections given to companies like twitter and facebook well trump accused social media platforms of having unchecked power. president trump: we are here today to defend free speech. reporter: president donald trump signed an executive order thursday afternoon attacking twititter for tagging hisis twe, including a warning for readers to fact-checked the posts. trump: it blacklists, shadow bans, editorial decisions. to removeit is section 230 from legegislation meaning they will not enjoy legal immunity from the content posted by usersrs. experts doubt much can b be done without a n act of congress. >> he e wants social m media tue

into his will -- he e wants socl media to bend to his will. he w wants to put them in a position where if there is any liability, they have to absorb all of it. reporter: meanwhile, facebook ceo mark zuckerberg took pains to distance his company. >> i don't think facebook or internetet platforms inn general shouould be biters of t truth. i think that is a dangerous line to get down to inin termsms of deciding what is true and what is not. reporter: unlike twitter, facebook outsources its fact-checking to media partner. but like twitter, it does come under fire from the president and fellowow conservatives who maintain without evidence the sites are biased in favor of left-leaning speech.

all this despite the same platforms being used heavily as advertising vehicles for trump's campaign. ithor: renault has announced is cutting 50,000 jobs worldwide including 4500 in paris. the company says it wants to save 2 billion euros. it has struggled since the arrest of the longtime ceo in 2018 and reported its first losses in years in 2019. here is the company chairman announcing the reason behind the job cuts. >> a crisis like what we have been tough forces s us to act. but it will take time. based on current mararket trend, the company can no longer support this bururden. notot going on the defensive but rather the offense ive. we are goioing to reduce fixed

costs by $2 bibillion over the next three years to help competitiveness. anchor: our reporter is at the manufacturing plalant near pari. at ther: the unions largest renault plant in france, 2600 employees, they met behind to follow communication from top management about the future of the company. it is going to close its doors at other plants not far from here. that activity will be moved here in this plant. unionists regret the other plant will close. they say it is a good thing the activity will be coming here. they are worried management has confirmed the current cars being produced year will carry on

being produced to the end of their life cycle in 2024, but they are not saying a new car will be produced here afterwards. this is what the unions want to fight for. they want to ask renault management to produce an actual car in this plant. one of the unionists was telling me if there is not a new car produceded here,e, that would be beginning of the end of the plant. anchor: france is easing cororonavirus lockdown measures. restaurants will be allowed to reopen next week but restrictions will remain in place in paris. people will also be able to .ravel beyond 100 kilometers with a 28,000 people have died of the virus here. the daily death tollll has begun to slow. cafés, bars, and restaurants have been in lockdown for two months.

owners and staff looked on with bated breath as the government announced they could open. the decision to allow reopening comes with conditions attached such as ensuringng social distancing of at least one meter. [speaking french] onea café nearby, owner learned the bar itself would be off-limits. owner has aaurant team of 16 employees. they will have to wear masks.

cafés, bars, and restaurants will be allowed to serve indoors in the green zone which is most of the country. stricter measures mean customers will have to sit outdoors. there is relief coming round. big day is next tuesday. anchoror a number of cyclists in the french capital has jumped since the coronavirus outbreak began. they appeared taking public transport -- they have feared taking public transport. ththe mayor has long been n tryg to get people on their bikes. reporter: a sunny bike ride is not just a nice way to spend the weekend in paris, it has also become his daily commute.

>> [speaking french] reporter: it willll take him 30 minutes. but that is only slightly longer than public transport. as lockdown measures are lifted, many have shunned the bus or the metro in favor of two wheels. bicycle lanes have never been so busy. to encourage this eagle family way of getting around, the mayor of paris -- to encourage this eco-friendly way of getting around, the mayor of paris has opened bicycle stations. new bicycle lanes are also being introduced. main arteriesy's is now entirely reserved for cyclists. almost 60 kilometers of new lanes will be introduced by the summer.

this has left shops struggling to keep up. are flying off the shelves. -- new bicycles are flying off the shelves. reporter: keeping up with demand is no mean feat as most bibicyce parts are imported from asia. restrictions to curb b the droropirus helped prompt a inin carbon emissions and air pollution in major cities big it seems there is another less positive side effect for the environment. masks and gloves have been ending upup in the streets. warning it could hurt

plastic pollution. reporter: one does not need to walk for long to come across sites like this, increasingly common. a new type of pollution. we know the use of these disposable masks and gloves has exploded in n the wake of the health crisis. being the number discarded on the streets. the problem is where they end up. finding alongside the standard bottles and cans quantities of masks and gloves. >> we do not need extra wawaste. it is already difficult enough to deal with sigrid butz. they a are absolutely everywher. we had just started lifting lockdown measures so now is the right time before they become a permanent curse to act. reporter: the masks are madade f

polypropylene. they are not biodegradable. asy are also a health hazard they potentially carry the virus. to o raise the fine to 300 euros i in an effort to curb littering. ofhor: the number coronavirus s cases inin brazil reached a record high on thursday. there were more than 26,000 new cases bringing the total to more than 438,000, second only to the united states. the last three days, the country has recorded over 1000 deaths daily. president bolsonaro has been criticized over his response to the crisis. he has been accused of playing down the seriousness of the disease and opposing lockdown measures. his government has lost two health minister's in r recent weeks. that is it from the newsroom.

stay with us. much more to come on "france 24." ♪ >> at a time when most of humanity is confined because of "france 24," more than ever before, is your window to the world. >> hello? >> hello and welcome t to the interview on "france 24." worldl discuss the arab with the u.s. assistant secretary of middle eastern affairs. welcome to "france 24." headlinesbeen making past few days.

how do you view the situation in and the role of other countrtries and d escalatg ththe wa >> we made it clear we supported an immediate cease-fire. secretary of state mike pompeo spoke with the prime minister on friday. need tossed to him the return to negotiations as quickly as possible to accept the cease-fire. they areeve demonstrating some flexixibilit. l lna and others.s. we are c concerned a about proxy fifighting. this is not just a proxy w war between ththe turks and the russians and the mercenaries. conflict withonall egypt and united arab emirarates and also the french involveved.

the think it is important arms embmbargo be implememented immediatately and thatllll sides move toward de-escalation. that w would allow a positive so we can get -- that would allow a pause so we can get negotiations started and look after the people with covid in libya. dhered the u.s. is pututting forward a plalan aimed toward enending thehe crisisis? >> we e have adodopted the berln plan.. wewe partiticipated in the conference several months back. we agreed with chancellor merkel and also erdogan, p putin, eveverybody y was there and agrd that we would move toward a cease-fire, ththat we woululd encourage e all sides t to go te

five plus five militaryy t talk. we are not seeing this plemented.d. we are engageded an increasingny concerned about t the latestt reports of adadvanced russian fighteter jets arrivingng in the country. ththis is a b big escalation.n. we are reaeally concerned about the suffering of the libyan people. it is time for this war to stop. doing to isis the u.s. help the libyapepeople? >> we are sending funding for covid relelief. we are also engaging politically. talking g to all sides, doing diplomacy throughout the region, and getting the parties involved in the conflicict to try and ran in their allies on the ground. >> we mentioned the russian and

turkish roles in the crisis. if the u.s. in contact with either of these powers to end the conflict on ththe ground? our diplomatitic engagagements with t them. it is difficucult, as you can imagine. bothth sides are committed to ts endeavor. on i am not going to comment our diplomatic engagement with them. >> are we facing a syrian scenario in libya? >> i think we are seeing it already. it has become a larger regional conflict with similar dynamics playing out in libya to be sure. what we have not seen there is 550,000rder of nearly

innocent civilians by the libyan government. i think that is a primary difference. with the assad regime and what thehave done -- assad reregime and russians have done in syria municipal's a genocide -- resemblbl a genocide. we have not seen suffering on that level yet what this could spin out of control if the russians choose to escalate further. >> what are the reasons you're seeing behind the ongoing crcrisis? >> i think you have a new government there. all of theheabinet seaeats have nonot been apporortioned yet. be prime minister seems to an iraqi nationalist who is demonstrating and

expressing iraqi sovereignty. he does not wawant his state toe a tool of iran. he wants iraqis to make their own decisions. we will see going forward whether he is able to succeed in dedemonstrating iraqi sovereign. i think he has enonormous chchallenges in front ofof him. some of those e are on the security side, but some of them certainly with oil coming inin t $18 andd b barrel. that is greatly impacting iraq's economy which was already in that shape before covid hit. how do you view the future relationonship between washihinn and d that governmnment? > we are optimiststic. the secretary has s spoken withh the prime minister a number of times. i met him during my last trip to a rock -- iraq before the covid hit. we are optimistic about the

directction forward. , we h have the beginning of -- next month, we have the bebeginning of strategic dialoge where we will discuss our ececonomic and political relationship andnd the posioiong of u.s. forceses in iraq. we are looking forward t to tha. i think the e prime minister recognizes t the value of the relationshship with the e united states, and so we are looking forward to working with him. nobody is asking for thehe iranians to o be thrown out ofof iraq. we e expect irann will behave le a normalal state. that meansns iran will not establish terrororist organizations in neighboboring countries that operate outsidede ththe control of t t centralal governmeme. that it will not a as a mattttef work to destabilize neighboring governments or governments i in the arab world.

i think ththe prime minister wod look forwardrd to iran becomomia normrmal state. we will discuss s a broad rangef topics with the iraqi government, including the disposition of u.s. forces. >> moving to lebanon, how do you view the current government? is the u.s. willingng to offer financiaial aid to lebanon? >> we are stilill wting to see whwhether this government is try committed d to reform, whether t will move forward and implement these reforms, n not just legislslate or announce them but actually implelement the. and then, , we will see where we stand on the imf support. clearly, lebebon is in need of the imf program. we are pleleased to see e the lebanese government recognizes that.. we will see if they aree willing to do what it tatakes to implemt reform..

i ththink it is essential l to t out hezbollah, which is part of the government, is not an organization knono for suppororting reform. >> can we expect new american sanctions against political figures linked to parties? >> yes. it is quite popossible. we are looking forward t to that these are the allies of havebollah or people ththat aided and etetted the murdering of hundreds of thousandsds of syrians weather in lebanon or syria. they would be susubject to sanctions. there is a broad range of sanctionons we arere always loog into. hopefully, we will be able to roll some out soon. about thee question deal of the century. are you currently workingng to renew dialogue with palestinians

on the deal of the century? how do you consider the russian role t to be? >> generally, , we don't view russia as being very p productie part of e conversation n on many issusues in the reregion. i thinink when it comes to israelis and palestinians, the same thing is true. if russia wants to have a voice, if they somehow can play a productive r role, we shall see. allll, we think i it would be important and productive for the palestinians to start enengaging against. we understand they are not enthusiaiastic about president trump's administration's plans for peace. if they don't like it, talk to us and the israelis.s.

lelet's have a discussioion abot the e way forward. i ththink that would be really productive. the palestinians have agency. they should be involved and have a say about the destiny. --abouout their r destiny. >> palestinians have rejected the deal. some consider this to be the end for the palestinian dream of having a state. >> we [indiscernible] the palestininians not entnthusiasastic about the , ththe vision. kushner has s said this was a starting point fofor dialogue and something that told be useful to talalk abobot move forward. the palestininians will have a seat. that is what it says. i would hope they y engage.

that is the most important thing at this point. >> the u.s. assistant secretary for near eastern affairs, thank you. please stay with us on "france 24." goodbye.

[indistinct radio chatter] newswscaster: ththis is where it began. thihis is where the fusee was lighteted, the dususty cornr in an old neighborhood of modest homes and new low-priced apartments. man: after 6 days of rioting in s south los angeles in august of 1965, you've got 34 people who lose their life, 1,032 people are wounded and injured, and almost $30 milillion in mid-196960s of capital and building destruction. newscaster: up the street a block or so in that direction, a church where negro leaders