comment in the questionnaire line for our teacher national reporting from the council on in capital barcelona were probably station doors have been smashed open ballot boxes removed and people injured just three hours into the referendum on the independence of the region we'll be bringing you all the latest from the ground. and on nicky aaron with a roundup of the week's news including tech giants google facebook and twitter are joining in the hunt for the increasingly elusive lucking alleged russian election

mandalas plugs. the euphrates river and close it is just it's. the shelled with c.t.e. . chronic states that days in serial numbers as they are driven out of the city of dia hours ago and across the euphrates river. flows are you watching the weekly here on r.t. international the latest headlines on the stories that shaped the week but first to catalonia where voting on independence from spain is underway but i see eight people have been injured in the standoff with military police that's according to canceling all thora sees civil guard officers have forced their way in supposing stations across the region they broke down doors as activists inside tried to prevent them from entering with

a number of people dragged away offices. thank you oh. all right thank god. thank you thank. you god god. god. god. the city can see spanish police detaining protesters who were blocking the way for police vehicles civil guard offices in riot gear can be seen from locking away people sitting in the road scuffles also erupted between protesters and the police . less cause live now to our correspondent we've seen a question of a who's at a polling station in boston a low number dana you've been updating as throughout the day since polling stations

opened at nine am local time can you talos how the situation is developed and what things are looking right like right now. while this is waging develops into a shocking violence for many here for the citizens of us along and for the citizens of the catchline ian region now people never extract it police forces to use to be so violent against them and so violently shut down polling stations we are right now in one of the neighborhoods of barcelona where the polling station is still operational so many people from other neighborhoods where probably stations have been shut down by police forces came here just to to still vote because people are determined to vote and they're saying that they will do everything they can in a peaceful way to defend their fundamental human rights to express their opinion and another important thing is that we see a different sorts of people here and we've see families where the small children we

see older the people we see a lot of students who are in shock as the. came from other school buildings where police used force we talked to witnesses of those violence coming from the civil guard where they said that a police forces were pushing people out forcibly out hope that this school and they were breaking the windows of the school they were dragging people out and scuffles erupted but people still. stress that's these gatherings here are peaceful and they are defending their right to express their opinion now we talked to many people here as with been here since four am in the morning there were at crowd there was a crowd of people here as early as four am just protecting the school building allotting the school building become a polling station and we managed to speak to some of them and listen to what they have to say how they want to defend their rights. discounted has been mobilizing for the last many years just with these objectives to be able to express ourselves

and to say what do we want for this country for the future who does the mother does the bringing to the exit or because we love the grocery we want to vote we have needed to do extreme actions such as sleeping in schools such as coming here hundreds of person said five o'clock in the morning spending i have been standing here for hours and we will be here all day if necessary because they don't want to let us speak. but it is important to understand that spanish authorities say that they blame the catalan regional police or for this violence for this sort of crisis they say that for council and regional police their political priorities and political criteria is became more important than fulfilling their professional duty and that's why spanish authorities together with the civil guard how to move quickly how to use force and do something they didn't want to do but for people here it was

a shock they never expected such violence to erupt but they are do. turman to remain here on this square close to the school building protected throughout the day to let the voting continue. in news the latest from barcelona last auntie's medina cancian over dana for now thank you very much now a video has appeared online of offices confiscating boxes and ballot papers from a council on polling station with voters trying to stop them because. the guy. was. the guy the the. and in these pictures hey you can see the police that taking the books is the way you can also have people in the front ground shouting and whistling at the offices a police cruiser reportedly seized boxes and ballots in the days leading up to the

referendum. spanish government doesn't have reasons to worry about losing this region though you catalonia covers six percent of the country's territory and accounts for twenty percent of spain's g.d.p. the region is also responsible for more than haul for other investments into startups and almost a quarter of foreign tourists choose to go to consular so perhaps that's why madrid is so desperate to stop this referendum. the. the the members of the former government have been judged. and barred from. going.

in and most of the wind. blows them but. that didn't end with. the family you know to. give. you this. they didn't expect. you to. think. let's get some reaction from mostly of colloq you agree k. i mean he was acting as an observer during the referendum there mystical ok thank

you for joining us on the program now we've been seeing videos of aggressive tactics being used by the riot police there in past alona and according to the consul on health ministry thirty eight people have been injured so far and that's just three hours into the vote and these people say they're going to stay there for as long as it takes so do you think things could escalate and someone extends. the years of troops like you know because. i don't know why. i but the government of mothery that he's doing these issues are these stocks toxics without precedent in the history of the modern spanos they hold a democracy of spain it's a it's a it's not it's against the question you should begin the human rights by the gaze they do this of both but i don't yes pain any euro you know hero in

bug him or of me we have a kind of a party of democracy is not the proper for them the technical difficulties that they're facing at enormous but there is a party of the mocha should people that are queuing to vote under the rain but you know this should be used another method. of dialogue good lead to people to vote. you know now that the government of a of a mother i think got it all the breezes with the note here she does the mr a for the prime minister of spain does that the addendum a. blow to the unity of spain by using this the dockets and also i think that the you know be a union must interfere not taking sides in favor of c. or no in their affair and do yes or no and therefore to do but to to make the age at the start the dialogue because this is

a you know how could people insured this covenant for the first time in you know in the in europe in such a way judy in their effort to do good in and then after a process a new way in europe and your inbox later today as an impartial observer and as an impartial have says that how do you how do you we were surprised by how things developed today and how do you think today is going to reflect on madrid. well it looks like. he's determined to use every means all means to to keep do to keep. it in spain but also to keep every kind of marriage to stop the fighting to. be going you know sean expecting much more violence the divisions from the from the police could risk a soon over the ballot boxes using the bullish from cultural

you know against the people of the ira reacting to it to the to this show. of people here in barcelona. the they think they do believe they are in peaceful. demonstration i preach peaceful resistance but that some sometimes things are getting out of control what the discovery done right now moderate people have lost their voices you know because either that is a war and every moderate. voice has been silenced so. i think i think we could wait worse things to do haven't even today it seems that we have two very determined signs we have a civil guards who are acting on orders and now we have the people that today the council learning's who are determined to make their voices heard now we haven't heard any reaction yet to what's happening today from neighboring states the e.u.

or any humanitarian organizations why do you think that is when we've seen violent clashes already. ways there you know unfortunately there are double standards. used you know where does in one country by one start there and the other by the other side or the day before yesterday i talked to with your colleague said russia today and said that. mr mcdougal the president as well and has used. how full of the measures is that a hole because they can it will be any the national outcry resolution is called the mason city in the year of the by the would never do you would know we have cited this this is not is not the you would hope we would we were in europe with equal southerners for everybody and also you don't respects democracy regardless if by your listeners are taking place i don't know in venezuela or o.c.s.

or. spain i just ileus colloquium greek n.e.p. acting as a referendum observer there in boston later today thank you feel times that we appreciated. ok as police tried to stop the voting council lonia our teams both here in moscow and in both alone will be updating you on the situation on the ground throughout sunday stay with us for. ok.

here's what people have been saying about rejected in that it was actually just full on awesome the only show i go out of my way to launch you know what it is that really packs a punch at least yap is the john oliver of r t america is doing the same we are apparently better than that and see people you've never heard of love redacted the next president of the world thank you so very. many seriously send us an e-mail.

hello welcome back let's bring you up to speed on some of the stories that shapes the week now major tech firms are cooperating with the u.s. all thought by handing over information supposedly will a tip to russian meddling in the american presidential election twitter and its statements also took a swipe at octane jaclyn vocal looks at the latest efforts to root out and legit russian trolls. the internet is now trying its hand at hunting down even the slightest sign of moscow lurking in the shadows facebook twitter and now google are all gearing up to testify in congress on pesky russian meddling next month. twitter has released a report with that name just made to fill headlines russian interference in two thousand and sixteen u.s. election bots and misinformation now it sounds spooky but the findings are more than a little vague twitter apparently found and shut down a grand total of two hundred one suspicious accounts that broke their spam rules and while russia is mentioned in the report those accounts aren't actually proven to have concrete links to moscow what was clearly laid out however was this channel

spending on ads shockingly proving that r.t. uses social media and by as advertisements. facebook released similar findings earlier revealing four hundred seventy in authentic accounts then admitted most ads run by those accounts didn't even reference the u.s. presidential election at all so the kremlin is so sneaky that it was able to rig an election without mentioning the actual election pretty impressive facebook also said russia spent one hundred thousand dollars on those ads and other words less than one percent of how much candidates spent campaigning on facebook. while stories of how moscow sway u.s. voters with a bunch of social media ads continue to dominate the mainstream media the most shocking social network revelation is all but ignored wiki leaks has posted an email conversation in which facebook's chief operating officer seemingly proposes helping hillary clinton's campaign head. i still want hillary rodham clinton to win

badly i'm still here to help as i can i'm thrilled at the progress here louise making. looking forward to working with the first woman president of the united states. google is also accused of having close ties to the clinton camp a leaked memo written by clinton's digital strategist surfaced online. i'm in it he talks about eric schmidt boss of google's parent company and the work that he's done for clinton i have been kept apprised of the work being done by eric schmidt's group and others working directly and indirectly with your team on the whole i am comfortable with where we stand and confident in our roadmap to launch day and beyond but if you're waiting for these special committees and investigations to be set up into whether facebook or google actually help the clinton camp don't hold your breath just in case but i think it's a witch i think that they don't care about what hillary was doing and they want to their very biased against that from pain so far they haven't showed me and that was

a that was a pro trump that was paid for by the russian government i just see what's happening in this post-election period as a result of a bunch of sore losers that were shocked that they didn't win the election but i think that the responsibility for us ought to be is what has our government done has our government been involved after they're in power and unfortunately we're involved too much around the world one of the big allegations against russia store a major blow this week with three u.s. states saying the department of homeland security provided them with false information that d.h. has told twenty one states that their systems and been hacked during the election but the three states in question said that the information was not only late but also roamed the agency should apologize but it seems news of alleged russian meddling just won't go away everyone and everything it seems is being accused of

having connections to mosco including credit the judge report website and even the n.f.l. scandal caleb maupin also new york as if they could distinguish it real from made up accusations against russia. which scandal was said to be the result of russian trolls by a u.s. senator was it a n.f.l. players not standing up for the pledge or for the flag was it be confederate monuments or c. the california independence movement california it's a you're right i see because i don't know i really don't know do you believe that kid who is a russian agent is it alexander ovechkin matt drudge or tom cruise tom cruise no doubt us a b. and you're right which is used as a tool for russian propaganda according to this same u.s. senator is it a fox news be read it or see snap chat. read

it yeah you're right about that i would say b. and that's what you have the same guy said that write it down right now do you buy this idea that rush is everywhere russian trolls or influence. do you buy that i think it's all over the internet so it has to be true the country for us to quit explanations without any facts. ever to syria now where remaining pockets of terrorist resistance in the city of de arizona where pounded this week by government forces on the ground and russian air power from above islamic state stage of the says he was broken by the syrian army a month ago and these are exclusive pictures from the area west several days ago syrian government forces made an important gain in driving out i still from the western side of the euphrates river there washing military has now established a bridge that enables all the cars to cross a separate mission russians to teach it bomb is carried out strikes on a high school and our lives were positioned in the syrian problem since the air is

though and in the. her i were her her. her. the remaining terrorists arizona now surrounded by both the syrian army and u.s. backed kurdish forces altie traveled to the city to witness the battle has all correspondent mark with his report from the front line. food out palace once that is sort of most exclusive resort now

a modern day fortress out of necessity. for three years the garrison here has thwarted isis attempts to cross the river at times it was a close run thing and we don't have saudi can on him from the onset coming up to the roof was very dangerous because of the snipers it was really bad but when the army broke the siege they fell back a month ago it would have been suicide to film up here not anymore. these five star hotel seem better days but thanks to its grandiose design and height acted as something of a fortress here indeed it has sought and just to show you how close we are if you have a look through this hole at that hospital well everything behind that is isis's part of the city of that is or across the river they also hold sway this is all their

territory that's the euphrates river and across it is isis it's from there that they shelled the city at will and from there that they launched the occasional raid across the river taking the other banking is key to liberating the city entirely isis still sends fighters and then alms back and forth across the river at night it may take weeks but it is inevitable isis in syria is on its last legs its collapse has been as spectacular as its rise since the beginning of the year the so-called caliph it has lost thousands of square kilometers losing precious oilfields and strategic towns to the advancing syrian army and the us backed rebels that is. not to say it's cool that it will be. isis has nothing left to new

according to the syrian military and the families of isis fighters and diehard supporters have allegedly retreated to the town of maya dean they have nowhere else to go in the shrinking. these is the final act the dream of an islamic state has been shattered but even in its death throes will inevitably claim more lives. from syria. but also from me today thank you for joining us my colleague at cape cod will be here with the latest headlines of the top of the hour don is that. is.

it was. kind of a. sign of this yes. there's no serious. he won't get up to six good area for immigrants it's hit and miss we never really know for sure but this has been a active area. so i. know. when i started no i. peacekeeping when it was only about maintaining peace between states as in

essentially symbolic. when you have militias when you have criminal groups. this is a symbol is not enough you need robust force. but . it is going to.

turn the welcome to worlds apart as the newly minted german parliamentarians gear up for their first session and argue their last week's votes resulted in a disappointing victory or a comfortable loss for the country sitting chancellor with the lowest share of the vote since nine hundred forty nine. retains hold on the job but it will now have to share the. almost nothing in common with the german politics just change in a major way by staying mostly the same well to discuss that i'm now joined by former editor in chief of the german newspaper. mr zimmer it's an audience you talk to you thank you very much for your time. it's a pleasure talking to you while the newspaper where you have worked for more than

half a century of the desired just published a transcript of its editorial meeting from i think it was nine hundred eighty two when the you all discussed the entry of a new party into the german parliament back then it was about the greens and the discussion was whether or not they should be considered legitimate political actors that question is pressing once again of in the parliamentary wu of the alternative for germany what's your take on why the day belong in the german politics well listen they've been elected and they are a part of the german political system and i hope we all hope that they will behave according to the rules of parliamentary democracy but i know that many people also hope that they wouldn't make this victory and when we look around your of there are a number of far as that have already parties that are more last ideologic.