>> this is dw news live from berlin. tonight, antigovernment protests in cuba, the biggest in decades. the communist regime pointing the finger at the united states, but the protesters are not buying it. also coming up, anger and unrest in south africa, deadly violence and widespread looting after authorities put former president jacob zuma behind bars. and in the former republic of

georgia, a journalist is found dead in his home. in parliament, scuffles as opposition lawmakers accused the government of failing to protect reporters. also on the show tonight, the ugly aftermath of england's euro 2020 defeat. black players are bombarded with racist abuse about missing penalty kicks at the european championship. ♪ brea: i'm brent goff. to our viewers on pbs and the united states and to all of you around the world, welcome. we start in cuba tonight with the largest antigovernment protests seen there in the last 30 years. thousands voicing their anger against the communist regime, demonstrators expressing frustration on food shortages, rising prices, and the lack of covid-19 vaccines.

both the united states and the european union are urging the government to listen to protesters' demands, that havana is blaming washington instead. [chanting] >> they are crying out for freedom in the streets of havana. this, the greatest show of discontent with the socialist government since the 1990's. the trigger for these protests is the desperate economic situation. right now the country is suffering from food shortages. >> we are here because of the repression of the people. they are starving us to death. havana is collapsing. we have no homes, nothing. [protestors chanting] reporter: soon police arrive and begin to drag people in the crowd. >> the arrests and the violence only make the demonstrators angrier. we are not afraid, they cry out. [protestors chanting]

>> state security beat me and my daughter, a child, just because we were walking down the street. reporter: supporters of the government have been out in the street. the president himself led this rally. it was organized in havana in the antigovernment protests began last sunday. >> we came here to show together with the revolutionaries of this town that the streets belong to us. reporter: with the president encouraging supporters to mobilize against opponents, there were angry confrontations. revolutionaries detained opposition protesters. >> for cubans who are here, we are never going to give up this revolution. never. [protestors chanting] reporter: it communist regime has ruled cuba since 1959. it survived the fall of the soviet union.

now it is again being challenged. but displays like these show it is unlikely to go without a fight. brent: i want to pull in monica rivera, a cuban journalist. good to have you on the program. we are hearing from the white house and the u.s.. in a statement, that these protests appear to have been spontaneous. what is your take on that? monica: thank you for having me. i would start by saying that it is the first time in 62 years that there is such a popular and huge demonstration of social unrest, and it was nationwide. we started to cover it from the first protest in the west of the island, and then through social media, you could see how there

was at least one demonstration in every province of the country. so it was really nationwide on the island. even the island that is outside, they also have some manifestations and demonstrations. brent: it seems on the outside it seems surprising when you know that these protests are in part over their lack of access to a covid-19 vaccine. we know that cuba has developed its own vaccine. how do you explain the shortage i would not say that it is -- it is not a single cause. monica: the unrest is caused by an accumulation of situations and conditions that did not start even with the pandemic. of course, the worsening of the situation with covid-19 is a fact, is a trigger, but i would

say it is more about food tolerance. people arepeople are tired of bn lines to have access to food and basic needs, and also paying in a currency that they don't have. what is happening with the vaccine is, cuba is developing five covid vaccine candidates. actually, they just approved the first one as a vaccine itself. and at least 26% of the population have received so far at least one dose of these candidates. 50% is fully vaccinated. there is a lack of syringes and also the fact that they weren't actual vaccines, but rather prototypes of vaccines.

brent: president miguel diaz-canel blames the united states for being behind these protests saying that the u.s. trade embargo has made life harder for cubans. is there any truth in that? monica: well, actuay not only him the united states itself acknowledges that the purpose of the embargo is to cause social unrest and despair in the cuban population and to overthrow the cuban regime by this means. so what happened is that cuban people are also tired of hearing that the embargo is used by the government as an alibi, an excuse for its bad decisions in the management of the country, which is also truth. people are eager for freedom.

four economic freedom, for expression. so it is hard to say that it is only one cause for the unrest. brent: cuban journalist monica rivero cabrera, we appreciate your time and your insight tonight. thank you. monica: thank you for having me. good night. brent: tonight south africa has deployed its military to push back and stop violence that was sparked after the former president jacob zuma turned himself into police. at least six people have died, hundreds more arrested. south africa's highest court has begun hearing zzuma's appeal against his 15 month prison sentence. officials are warning that the unrest could lead to shortages of food and medicine. reporter: soldiers gathered on the streets of south africa, there to protect police after

protests marked by looting of property became more violent. looters claimed in wall overnight, one of many places in the city that was ransacked over the weekend. another shopping mall lies in ruins in this city some 80 kilometers from durban. the unrest has been mainly concentrated in the southeastern province of causal natal -- five kwazulu natal, zuma's home region. he was jailed for failing to appear at a corruption inquiry. now the protests are aimed at south africa's economic powerhouse. the army deployed troops to the two most affected regions. >> although these may be opportunistic acts of looting driven by hardship and poverty, the poor and the marginalized

bear the ultimate brent of the destruction -- the ultimate brunt of the destruction currently underway. reporter: zuma's imprisonment has laid bare deep divisions in the country. brent: earlier we spoke with someone in cape town and we asked her who is behind this unrest. >> it started out with people calling out to the former president's supporters to go and protest against his incarceration, his imprisonment. initially when protesters were coming out and blocking roads and creating all sorts of chaos, they were saying thathis is in the name of the former president, mr. zuma must be freed. but now it is a suation where there are criminal elements

bearing mind, a lot of people we are seeing carrying out violence, they come from underprivileged communities. we have a lot of poverty and unemployment here in south africa. you can see people walking into shops are stealing basic items. , clothing. , bathing and items of the night it is opportunistic criminality taking place, people taking advantage of the situation. young people and elderly people looting as well. there was incitement from the zuma on in terms of the retreating of these videos, and imploring more people to do the same thing in the name of zuma but has now gone into a complete chaotic situation. brent: that was our correspondent, christine mhundwa reporting in cape town. other stories making headlines around the world, police in haiti say they have arrested the

man who alleged flew into the country in a private jet and conspired to assassinate the president. the haitian national allegedly worked with the masterminds of the killing. moise was shot dead in his home on wednesday. mandatory evacuations ordered in northern california as firefighters struggled to contain a massive blaze. the fire the insights over the weekend and is now the largest in california. it is not to have been caused by lightning. more than 60,000 acres so far have been destroyed. report by the u.n. has found that the coronavirus pandemic has contributed to an increase in the number of people facing hunger worldwide. nearly one in three people did not have access to food in 2020, an increase of almost 320 million people in a single year. french president emmanuel macron says vaccination against covid-19 will be made mandatory for all health care staff and other workers who come into

contact with vulnerable patients. it is part of the latest measures to contain the pandemic in france, where that delta variant is taking hold. macron says there will be controls and sanctions, and they will be introduced beginning in september 15. tonight in the former soviet republic of georgia, opposition lawmakers are demanding the prime minister resign over the death of a journalist. the cameraman was found dead in his home over the weekend, days after he had been attacked by a right-wing mob. georgia police say they have detained 20 people for violence against journalists and the media. reporter: chaotic scenes as journalists and opposition politicians pushed their way into georgia's parliament. they occupied the speakers' chair and demanded the prime minister resign. they blame the ruling party for

attacks on journalists and support for violent groups. among the protesters, the founder of the tv news channel, where cameraman alexander lashkarava had worked until he was found dead on sunday. georgian police have not said how the journalist died. days earlier, the generalist had needed hospital treatment after being beaten by far-right activists as he filmed anti-lgbtq protests. far-ghtnd church suppters attackedgbtq campaigners who were planning to hold pride events in the capital, tbilisi, at last week, george's prime minister had called the pride event and acceptable for many parts of georgian society. on monday, he dismissed the

fresh protests over lashkarava's death. >> it is yet another field conspiracy against the state masterminded by antistate and anti-church forces, which failed and will never be successful in our country. [shouting] reporter: but the protesters have promised to keep challenging georgian society's conservative values, and demanding that the prime minister resign. brent: from tbilisi, i am joined by nana. she is the channel executive of the channel where the cameraman worked, who was found that over the weekend. good to have you over the program. you and mr. lashkarava worked together. what was your reaction when he first learned that he had died? >>irst of all, thank you for having me and for having our

channel covering this story on your channel. yes, we worked together. to be honest, he was onef the best cameraman we had. th is why was in that location that day. he was a decent person, very motivated, and he worked very hard. my first reaction when i fst read it, i read it a if his mom died. my first thought was, oh, they made his mom died because he was beaten up so bad and it took a few minutes to do just that it was not his mombut he died after this terrible assault. my reaion was devastation. it is his funeral tomorrow, and we really do not know how to cope with this. brent: is there anything he could have done when he was

covering the story last week that could have attracted these right wing hooligans, this mob, is there anything he could have done to attract their hate? nana: the pblem is the journalists, they got caught up in the stairways of the building where the pride organizers were located. they were located in the office floor and were just coming down the stairs from shooting something upstairs, and violent groups entered the entrance and started running up the staircase, so they got caught up in the situation. they got the victims of all the anger of these violent groups. they had nowhere to go. they were caught up in these stairways. they firsttarted attacking the geralist, miranda. he had aoung girl.

and they started assaultg her. saying, we are journalists, don't touch as. but it was so violent. brent: it is tragi nana: hothey telthe stor re than 20 out of people were beating him up. they beat him to death. it is very, very tragic. brent: the georgian prime minister has described the protests, quote, "a field conspiracy against the state." does that mean the government is not going to held to account for what happened? is no one going to be held sponsiblfor the ath of ur colleague nana: it sms that ey a avoiding that responsibility. that is the worst part. to the prime minister made anti-constitutional staments, i cannot call it any other way. he said the majority of the people are against this. he denied the rights of minorities. today was shocking press

conferce. not only are they not taking responsibilityf what they did, but th are trying with sabotage and everythinto justify all the mischief the did, because there was no w enforcement by the lgbtq office, and that day, when they knew that anti-pride violent groups would be there. anyoneho thought that law enforcement should have been there, fir place, that is the place where they should have protected, and there was nobody to protect neither our journali, nor the organizers of pride. brent: our condolences to you on the loss of your colleague. nana aburjanidze, channel executive of t.v. priveli, thank you. let's take a look now at some of the other stories making headlines. official results show nuclear winter in the bulgarian

elections. the center-right party led by the prime minister won the most votes just ahead of the new populist partybut neither sides. looks read to form a coalition. public anger and corruption is growing -- at corruption is growing. officials in in t.s.a. lightning strikes have killed people as monsoon thunderstorms hit the country's north. among the dead are children. forecasters have warned of more lightning strikes in the coming days. a court has sent two former officials to 15 years in prison for trying to destabilize the monarchy. they were found guilty of conspiring to install p rince hamza as the country's ruler. he is the half-brother of the king. the prince himself has avoided any charges. british police are investigating

online racist abuse targeting three black english players. it came sunday night after the three players missed penalties in the country's shootout loss to italy in the euro 2020. metropolitan police say there have been no "offensive and racist social media posts directed at marcus rashford, jaden sancho, and bukayo saka." there missed penalties helped italy when the game which was held at london's wembley stadium. england coach garth south gate has called the abuse unforgivable. let's go to london now where our correspondent is standing by, charlotte, good evening to you. this is not the first time we are seeing these events. in the past, mayors and city figures within the game have urged vigilance from social media platforms. what kind of reaction have you en hearing this time? charlotte: there are more calls

fovigilance on social media platrms, but the crux of this is why are these comments happing in the first place? prty shameful conduct after the game last night. at the stadium we saw scenes of chaos. a group of friends stormed the stadium. now aft theame overnight, thcomments targeting those three plers who missed penalties, targetingheir social media accounts. extremely shocking. it mural of one of the players, marcus rashford, h graffiti put on i a lot of shock and a lot of soul-searchingoing on about conduct around thes games and the racism online. widely condemned, i have to s, from a number of quaers. you had gareth southgate, the manar, and also prince william who was at the game last night describing t as --

describing the abuse as sickening. very tou for the plars. also tough for england fans who loved this team and what they represent and adre them. ve young and socially conscious. they have taken it tough stance on racism. they have taken in the at the game to highlight racism. some fans actually booed that. thgovernment is facing racism for not stopping the booing of the players when they took the knee. the prime minister w asked, what you now take the knee? he dodged the question, but he condemned the racism against these players. take a listen. pm johnson: to those who have been directing racist abuse at some of the players, i say, shimon you, and i hope you will crawl back under the rock from which you emerged. brent: crawl back from under the rock which you emerged. that is not the only topic on the agenda today, england is d

ue to lift almost all of its coronavirus restrictions in just a week, but the numbers are soaring, are today, charlotte? charlotte: they are, we are seeing 30,000 cases a day now, warnings that they could claim higher. the press conference, it was made clear thathe u.k. is very much in a third wave. hospitalizations raising as well warngs that there could be fatalities. neverthess, the government has of unlocking, the roadmap out of restrictions as ople are calling it. a loof people are calling it eedom day on monday. that is when you are going to see legal restrictions lifted, mask-wearing, for example. the government is arguing, we are not going to do this now, then went to do it? ey say summer is as good a time as any, prime minister boris johnson said. you will not see pressure on the

health service with people meeting outside. but there are concerns among others in the scientific community warning that england should wait until more people have had two doses of the vaccine. therare some who are characterizing this lifting of restrictions as something of a gamble from prime minister johnson. brent: time will certainly tell. charlotte chelsom-pill as always, thank you. meanwhile, the returning heroes of italy's victorious euro 2020 squad related fans with a plan to do a bus tour in rome. the plan was canceled because of coronavirus concerns, but after meeting the president, the italian players and staff showed off the trophy on top of their team bus as they made the short journey to be received by prime minister mario draghi. thousands turned out to cheer them on. our correspondent is in rome.

she told me wt this victory means for the people of italy. reporter: after speaking to a lot of italian fans there was a sense that the emotions were quite intense. i think that also pary had to do with the fact that italy underwent several strict lockdowns. i think that resulted in some bottled up emotions where, of course, you had to distance, you could not meet upith friends, you could not watch football in mass gatherings. i think yesterday when italy won, football became an outlet, it release. it became where they actually felt alive. brent: that was our correspondent reporting in rome. here is a reminder of the top story we are following for you, thousands of cubans have taken to the streets in the largest antigovernment protests seen there in decades, angry about food shortages as well as rising prices. president miguel diaz-canel has accused the u.s. of trying to

destabilize the country. you are watching dw news. after a short break, i will be back to take you through "the day." tonight, mixed messages on how to protect ourselves against the coronavirus. we will be right back. ♪

♪ >> the anticipated fourth wave of covid, macron says all french health workers will have to be vaccinated against the virus. the president also extended the use of the masks to include bars and restaurants and travel and leisure from august. cuban people in the streets chanti for change over property, corruption and mismanagement of the pandemic. the e.u. is urging cuban authorities to listen to the discontent on the streets. we'll be speaking to