live. thousands of people in barcelona rally against the spanish government after attempts to quash sunday's independence referendum for catalonia. exclusive video from syria's darrow's or our correspondent takes you to the heart of this decisive battle for the country's future amid claims that some forces are exploiting the games. president emanuel mccrone proposes a new tax breaks for france's wealthy leading to protests in paris. to employ. a riot police. to talk to ignore your right she abused right she

discriminated left breach in front of them for dead these are the things that did not happen so we must go this way and english football fans get a warm welcome in moscow for the u.a.e. afaik champions league despite the british media's fear mongering ahead of the fixtures. this is our two international coming to you live from the russian capital where it's just turned five pm i'm jack and thank you for joining us this hour. we start in catalonia where thousands of students are rolling in support of the region's independence referendum scheduled for this sunday castro has been following the mass protests in barcelona. mostly it was a clue from this section of the universities and schools here in qatar lumia who told the students to come out on the streets and you can see that.

it's not going so this has been going on the whole day. guys guys are going to come pick up here anybody speaks english right so so what do you think what do you want to tell the people that is watching right now up. what is about to happen on sunday here in his pain in catalonia and there's there there are bare of oh yeah you're good at knowing that people that is in that job they are seeing ass he feeds killing them across he and we want to board we want to block oh i'm sorry i'm too boring. but who cares you can hear this is the situation right now this is happening all and the majority barcelona today there's a lot of people there's a lot of students protesting what is being going on but let's hear what they will be in thinking today and the people that is actually supporting the slippery. every day i see move people who are ready for action and i don't see anything i see

people worrying about whether the votes will happen or not what will happen is i haven't met anyone who would say they're going to stay at home because they're scared to go outside i see now how the movement has been evolving for the last four years right here i've never seen anything like this before. we know that there are hispanics police coming here. to cite the. police i really. wouldn't. be ready to do that here is their. feeling. right. but as you can see a lot of people are wondering what is actually going to happen on sunday regarding the actual election the result of the election was the recent polls here in spain and general are showing so far the forty one percent are supporting the process of independence of catalunya and forty nine are against but these are all polls at the

moment there are no ascendancy was about to happen this sunday regardless of whether there's going to be any actual election on sunday because as we have been telling everybody doing. today the police has been going into this since the balls and they being confiscating some of the material that is supposed to be used for these sunday so far we can also show you a little bit over the reactions that we had total here on the streets of boston lona where we found the interest in people that are actually thinking a little bit different if you just think it will be people you will see for yourself eventually you see you know if you have i believe you've got the feeling to go to your face isn't the whole time you use my phone to wish you to stop and that never kill you this economy notion that you never get to go you know yourself in the field is bigger no matter what you do not do stuff like that i'm actually

not real sure that. there's a lot of activity there's a lot of protests there's a lot of people calling for democracy and for this funny school women to live in express their voice on sunday in the referendum called for the first of all over in response to the upcoming referendum spanish authorities are stepping up measures to prevent the vote taking place fourteen regional officials have already been arrested and ten million ballot paper seen used the official campaign website has also been blocked with an increased police presence in the region madrid is also planning to take over palling stations and catalonia the region's minister for foreign affairs has called on europe to intervene in the situation he says that by trying to block the vote madrid is violating the democratic principles of the e.u. the call echoes the calland president's earlier statements accusing the european commission of turning its back on his region's right to vote conservative was going to i think will have earned the right to be heard this is something that has not

happened up to now this is something the european commission has been deaf to they will not be able to continue ignoring the c. shoe. well catalans voiced their anger at madrid journalists have been trying to pin down the e.u. to get its a view at a media briefing this week r.t. spoke to one of the reporters who are there. now will you have a double stand out in freedom of expression whilst found that four thousand. in other strand out for the throne yet you condemn it when they shut down cambodia daily but you stay silent when a member states starts playing with freedom of expression. private websites if they start arresting jewelries how can you say this is a constitutional that we don't have anything to say i mean this is freedom of expression anything else that we can help you with today. it's an internal constitutional problem according to the e.u. and the house to be sold into frame or called internal orders or legal order of

spain the problem is that this is true until until when certain issues arise like this in the last few days the issue of freedom of expression which is not only an internal constitution not an issue of spain it's clearly a european to you which is if you want. constitutional order not only spanish call situation or that. with the official referendum page now banned online by spanish authorities wiki leaks founder julian assange has responded by posting up a mirror of the website on twitter which now shows a polling station being taken over by the government we discussed the issue with the european parliament member diane james. this is a serious issue in terms of freedom of speech for a european union member state and comments such as likening the situation to that

that has occurred in communist countries korea north korea and china i think the analogy and the similarity is there the european union it believes in or claims to believe in freedom of expression and free speech and yet here we have a member state doing the absolute opposite the spanish government is resorting to this sort of threatening tone in terms of reprisals now if spain is allowed to get away with this that will form a precedent for other countries and it will form the the means if you like in the future for other national governments to ban referenda which are deemed to be unsuitable or make the european union uncomfortable. syria's ambassador to the u.n. has accused the u.s. of trying to take credit for the operation to retake the city of bears or from i saw. the u.s. coalition and rebel militias they support halted their operation in iraq which was

a stronghold of eisel and through their forces behind trying to push the syrian army out of dairies or as if the americans were competing with the syrian government over control of derrius or instead of fighting are you still in iraq or . the remaining terrorists in there is or are now surrounded by both the syrian army and u.s. backed kurdish forces our correspondent right girls day off is in the city. this siege may have been lifted but it's not over yet isis holdouts in parts of dead as order though not for long. day and night battles rage around the city that you harvests are throwing everything they have into the fight. every day there is combat they'll use heavy weapons from range although trying to infiltrate in the middle of the night fear attack with suicide vests and car bombs the battle goes on every day but the tables have turned it is

isis now that is surrounded and slowly being squeezed out whereas a syrian artillery position overlooking the industrial city the industrial korda of there is order for supporting troops that are staging the offensive down there an offensive that began earlier this morning with a barrel of airstrikes but the battle is said to be fierce with isis giving no quarter from here syrian spotters watch for isis fighters from above this is why height is so important and war better advantage and better aim and this range you can't really miss a lot with hillary. hits a verified and confirmed in real time it was at this exact spot as nest that

a russian lieutenant general advised syrian offices fifteen minutes before his death he was killed to several days ago by an isis shell just a few hundred meters from here. isis fired back as we filmed shells began falling all around. we ran but the syrian batteries kept firing. the city of durham will be liberated in a week of the most and will free some of the suburbs to. the cost will undoubtedly be high it's a challenging battleground from dense urban areas to lush river banks and even trenches. the euphrates is both a blessing and because isis still uses the waterways to move men. and

surprise attacks. this bunker is manned during the nights because the tower across the river belongs to eisele for three long years captain he bring him squad has bled and died in the trenches along the euphrates their sacrifice not enough to break the long stalemate but now everything changed now that we need more. from there is order syria. after three years of terrorists many people under is or are in desperate need of medical help this is the only hospital in the city that's working and as you can see it's riddled with bullet holes and shrapnel for now it has just seven doctors and is overwhelmed by patients medical supplies are also in short supply mohammad is one of the patients there he was wounded in terror shelling his father was killed in the same attack.

we spoke exclusively to syria's foreign minister on the sidelines of the un general assembly who shared his thoughts on the future relationship between the syrian government and u.s. backed kurdish forces he also thinks his country's crisis is now in its final chapter. iraq. over the last three months the syrian army and its allies have managed to liberate more than fifty five percent of syrian territory that's why i say that the main fighting in syria is coming to an end and that we are writing the last chapter in the history of the crisis when we are done with eisel we can sit down at the negotiating table with our kurdish brothers and agree on the terms of our future relationship i always see every reasonable person must learn from the past in the past the united states always turned its back on its sell ice that's why i hope the door of kurdish brothers will learn from that. the russian military has released

a new video of its anti terror air raid in syria's it led province it says that throughout the week all air strikes were focused on the terrorists hardware and meeting places they also foiled the terrorist plan in neighboring hama province were all nursed her fighters were apparently planning other attacks. in france protests are taking place in the capital against president emanuel mccraw decision to slash spending in key public sectors and cut taxes for the wealthy after unveiling his first annual budget mccrone has been dubbed by some as the hero of the rich. are for fun and charlotte dubin ski is in paris for us we have another unpopular decision coming from a crime but who are these cuts affect most. well thousands of pensioners in paris of rally to the cools from a number of unions for a national day of action against the cuts that are being imposed in not new budget

the first budget by a manual month corns government no social security in particular is going to be slashed in the budgets loyce point five billion euros removed from not budget slightly less than was expected but still a huge chunk of that budget suddenly no longer there and pensioners also say they were unhappy about some of the increases in certain taxes like for example the touch that they have to pay the social security contributions or any rental income that they may receive a pension is say well that's going to impact those people who bought houses over the years and many pensioners say they're unhappy about what they see is being a budget that is through the rich when some pension is in front of having to live on as little as six hundred euros per month and many pension is i've been speaking to this process say they're having to live hand to mouth mouth every moment.

mr might draw even the kings up for the seat up the road she's. not do directing for me and for the majority of the forty incidents. chrono is defending the reach of his actions prove that he was supposed texas on the poorest. in favor of the rich. people on a personal level don't know how to live how to eat eat usually such a class has children who are left ill provided for that's double trouble. well that echo that sentiment of this being a budget for the rich has been echoed by some of the papers in france today saying that this is one the only benefits the rich and for example this budget will cut the tax reduce the tax burden of some people who work in the financial sector and some people saying that that's a way of trying to attract people from the city of london as those brigs negotiations i get underway but that is certainly something that is not going down

well with many of the people i've spoken to today and also in regards to that mark was government to said that they feel that this is a budget that will benefit all let's take a listen to what mr president emanuel much has to say himself. a budget can only go hand in hand with strong political leadership led by a common finance minister and strong parliamentary supervision at the european level only the eurozone with a strong an international currency can offer europe the framework of an economic world power. for those comments by a manual microphone come of this speech he gave just a few days ago outside in the small bone university mr marquand talking about his why drinking ideas for the europe of the feature coleman are using minister coleman

finance and budget for those with many of the pension is his say they want him to focus not on this idea of a napoleonic super state but actually on the issues here in france and to help those people who contributed to the social security budget for decades upon decades who need help the most charlie thank you for the update but our team is charlotte devinsky reporting live from paris. coming up on the program in a poll except a new member state despite a backlash from israel that story and more after a short break.

with manufacture consent to public wealth. when the ruling class is protect themselves. be the one percent. we can all middle of the room sick. welcome back israel is threatening retaliation after enter poll voted to accept

palestine as a state member israel prime minister even accuse the palestinian leadership of hindering any chance of peace in the troubled region it's part of an ongoing palestinian campaign to continue the conflict with israel inside professional international bodies in a way that destructs these bodies work the palestinian diplomatic warfare will not go unanswered. interpol joins a long list of international organizations to recognize palestinian palestine's statehood the territory declared independence in november one thousand nine hundred eighty eight and was recognized by dozens of countries including every arab state the soviet union and its allies more states follow suit over the next two decades a breakthrough for palestine came in two thousand and eleven when it was accepted to unesco a year later even more significantly the un general assembly upgraded palestine to a nonmember state authorities in palestine have praised the country's acceptance to interpol this is a clear message to the rest of the world the palestine is

a member of this international community believes firmly and the laws that govern the behavior of civilized nations. not just. population centers at the mercy of is there but the nation and the state with full rights and with full of negations political analyst amir oren says israel is nervous now that palestine can open an investigation into alleged israeli war crimes through interpol. for in more international organizations and more and more countries do recognize it so you never to believe well negotiates with israel the different. states and the u. delineation off its borders to be a state and being a member or for him to pull is another symbolic step but the results so the substantial step of being baulked for law enforcement organisation which would been

tied to palestine to get the intelligence and odder material and also international search warrants and try to apprehend israeli officials for alleged war crimes israel of course agreement that he resists. motion israel doesn't want to upset big brother could balance even more so we've been doing any good to punish the palestinian authority. russia's foreign ministry has said the demands being made by washington to r.t. and sputnik to register as foreign agents contradict the principle of free speech let's cross live now to medea question about for the details for you what exactly did the foreign ministry spokesperson have to say. well we heard some common on this issue coming from russian foreign ministry spokeswoman. who said that u.s.

is using the policy of the double standards towards russian journalists working on its territory and in particular towards artsy and sputnik news agency now she made that comment at a briefing here at the ministry following the news that the u.s. department of justice has asked to register its american channel r.t. america as a four agents now mighty as that part of us said that these sorts of demands go against the us principles of freedom of speech and expression and that in my. some serious consequences. and when the law. turned into the instrument to kill the company. channel and then. most media the russian federation will get the un so. the answer and the. object will be. calculated and will be

defined by the united states and we are counting time. on money as a credible is also sad has also said that are often blamed in being an instrument in russia's alleged meddling in the u.s. election though no real evidence was so far presented to a back of those claims and indeed earlier u.s. senate issued a report where it blamed for spreading fake. has been discoursed discussed quite often any details that differ in senate hearings. russia today propaganda call them whatever r t the propaganda or the russian propaganda on steroids or a can of the russian government i don't know whether average citizens find it were persuasive but. you know i'm afraid they do in the area of public diplomacy russia each or that is i had also said that in such

a situation when the law is used to demolish a certain channel there will be a certain response. from of the in the course of our reporting live from moscow thank you for staying across that for us. football fans are getting a taste of what's in store at the two thousand and eighteen world cup british fans have been in the russian capital for the u.a.e. f.a. champions league this week both liverpool and manchester united supporters were given a warm welcome as their teams played at spartak and c.s.k. moscow's brand new stadiums so you see a lot of the new deal about the funds being very aggressive but when you actually call me see this if it's all the way where. there's no fair fights and all this kind of. moscow's big places you know chile goes you go slow. you. three nights we're going to look down the streets very very shaky won't find

a very good way on the. remind you the most. lovely thing about it he put it to. the soon to be a major thing i conked tell you how lovely and specially to. former england international footballer stan collymore told us the fear mongering in some british media ahead of the fixtures has been proven completely unfounded. fast forward to the last couple of days the british press of my to really big deal about . when you get off the plane if you're black if you write in a few english you're going to be attacked and you just heard there from liverpool fans a bit of line here from a journalist that you just dropped on on to it's a kid symbol hooligans kicked in by riot police attacked. with noids rightfully abused rightfully discriminated left rates in both of them for dead these are the

things that did not happen to me in moscow this week that was replicated right there i try to say the reason why this last couple of days has been very important is that it's two of england's biggest clubs little poland month just you know it's a huge supporter bice travelling to moscow with moscow two of moscow's biggest clubs so we wanted to see and film around security the police in the experience. and as we see the experience the little funds i did took it was from just off to all this game on this been going on in social media by people it's an it's a be able to shine from them and i think it's been absolutely fine experienced to the stadium experience in moscow and it's been absolutely brilliant it's been well we've heard that some people really were wary of coming to russia but you didn't get that impression from any of the family the problem means is when you set a narrative two or three days ago and some of the newspaper headlines of russian mob's whiten for english just inflames the situation the vast majority of russian

football fans want to go and watch their team play is there a small minority that cause trouble yes but coming from a country that i do read england we've had problems with hooliganism for thirty forty fifty years in some cases and it's taken a quite a long time to deal with it so the two lot of english football fans were. there was something called gentle fans which was fun for both moscow and sports at moscow and initiative by both sets of fans given a blanket. sure spanking will bring well that's not going to be on the front page of tabloids tomorrow what they're looking for is rice isn't what they're looking for is trouble they didn't find any so today i was on social media often to look at a quite incredible high quality it's been on social media from some of the journalists that two or three days ago were how you. didn't help when people just had a really good time at the football also predicted as expected that's the up for us

this hour ahead to our website r.t. dot com to find all of the stories and more i'll be back at the top the hour so do stay with us. here's what people have been saying about rejected in the senate just pull on. the only show i go out of my way to find you know what it is that really packs a punch. is the john oliver of r t america is doing the same. apparently better than. a c. people you never heard of love back to the night president of the world bank. seriously.