to turn off all of the oh yeah well you can't turn off your lot of these kids just don't hear. the darker side does the pentagon allow them to be told or does it just need more recruits. violent scenes iraq during catalonia independence referendum with police and over three hundred voters injured we hear eyewitness accounts will be on rest. so to people feeding him her and this is not the first three people did this or that the earth and the earth taken from here by ambulance. police in canada say a stabbing and running incident involving an officer and pedestrians is a terror related and i so flag was found in the attackers vehicle.

elsewhere this week tech giants google facebook and twitter all join the hunt for the elusive russian spies meddlers in the us election. the euphrates river and across it is isis it's from there that they shelled the city and islamic state stays in syria look numbered as government forces clear remaining terror pockets in the eastern city of desert or out across the euphrates river. thank you for watching the weekly coming to you live on our international from moscow i'm kate partridge. catalonia as independence referendum is underway but has been marred by numerous scenes of violence three hundred thirty seven people have now been injured in clashes with military police according to catalan authorities.

was. was was was was was was was sitting in her and this is not the first people this order to see the earth and take you by what's so disturbing from their early hours of the morning it seems to be escalating it. was was was. all spanish civil guard officers have been forcing their way into polling stations across the region the broken down doors as activists inside tried to prevent them from entering with

a number of people being dragged away. well these are what appeared to be rubber bullets fired by police as they disperse a crowd of photos the sound of shots can also be heard on the video well spanish police say eleven of their offices have been injured in scuffles a spanish government official has tweeted that police actions are professional and proportionate spit something the videos emerging suggest otherwise. it was. well hey you can see protesters in sharona in northeastern catalonia facing off against offices whatever straightest have their hands up in a sign of nonviolence but police apparently started hitting them with batons and we spoke to one man who was injured in these clashes. we saw there will be trying to take off from their station and we never thought that they would be such

a biomes from the police. but all people. simply unacceptable we were seeing again we saying not by your hands was thing we just want to vote we are seeing we are all friends and they he does with the profits. many people. over the port i don't know what they think it's proportional but we know one year was nothing owes them. and asking for our freedom what they were not making any distinction at all they were getting a very what they were not looking at and it's. another video from catalonia shows police jumping on and violently kicking protesters as well as dragging out to wisconsin the polling station that corresponded with in a question about was at one of the voting stations in barcelona. people who are here in barcelona never expected such a violent approach people are in shock really now we've got

a lot of people here in this neighborhood very close to the polling station that is still operational you know people are still trying to vote here but we do know that just two blocks away there was there was another polling station on the other building of the school that was just basically raided by police forces and police forces used force and they were violent and just as you mentioned they pushed people out now we spoke to several students who managed to ran away from that school and they're all. here now they told us that to put these forces arrived and they moved real quick and they pushed people out people try to lock themselves with them to school to protect the building of the school so they broke the windows sounds of school and they got inside and they tried forcibly to remove people out of the school and they work that we would bring them by their hair and they pushed an elderly woman out of cell eight wind of tense and violent real quick what's

happening right now is that we are we expect police forces to iraq if crowds are getting bigger and bigger here by the minute we know that a lot of people i came over here from the school that was just raided by police and there are a lot of students a lot of young people here there are also families with children we see a lot of calgary people and everyone we can feel fear with and the crowds and people expect police forces to get rides but they keep telling us that they are determined to vote and they're determined to defend their democratic rights and they're determined to stay here and protect the polling station and this county 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 to for this country for the future he does a mother but it's raining all the exit out because we love the grocery we want to

vote we have needed to do extreme actions such as sleeping in schools i just 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 or video has also appeared online of offices confiscating ballot boxes on voting papers from a council on polling station with voters trying to stop them. was was was was. these pictures are of police taking the ballot boxes away you can hear people in the background heckling the officers or police also reportedly. seized boxes and voting papers in

the days leading up to the referendum. was reported. was. well meanwhile in madrid he unionists have been staging a rally in one of the central square as the activists were waving spanish flags and shouting slogans in support of spanish unity as well as the national police catalonia is a crucial economic region and this could be one of the main reasons behind the unrelenting opposition over madrid to the independence vote. the. big three members of the former government have been judged and convicted and barred from public positions only because we'll let people know.

this isn't a closer look at why the beginning was a little bit more because they've been. i can't say that good and with that change the fact remains that if you were to. give. this senate key again if you send such a way that you previously about the day. was.

well the spanish government does have reasons to worry about losing this region catalonia compass six percent of the country's territory but accounts for twenty percent of spain's g.d.p. the region is also responsible for more than half of all investments into start ups and almost a quarter of spain's foreign tourists go to catalonia which is why madrid is so desperate to stop the referendum. well but the roots of the crisis go way back in spanish history. by now you've surely heard about cats alone his desire to go it alone the prosperous region in northeast spain it counts for almost a fifth of the country's economy and believes it's paying madrid way more than it gets back catalonia is home to seven point five million people boasting its own language culture and history which is why many cats once considered themselves a separate nation. but it has been a lot of spain since the fifteenth century courtesy of king ferdinand and queen

isabella for the origins of the modern says sation its movement let's fast forward to the twentieth century spain becomes a republic and catalonia gets a statute of autonomy but six years later franco comes to power and takes that away the three decades of franco's oppression only posted the castle as desire for independence and after his death and strange transition to democracy catalonia got its autonomy back but not enough as many locals believe when the countries can stitch new court limits on cancer and claims to nations that it started a chain reaction. with protests and symbolic referendums in cities and towns across the region some catalans now compare madrid pressure to the decades of franco dictatorship the region held a non-binding independence vote back in twenty fourteen about eighty percent said yes to independence but it was declared illegal by spain local political domingo

got there on your. own up a few undemocratic the catalonia is crashing ahead regardless and seems more determined than ever to be in the sand. all while police try to stop the vote in catalonia our teams here in moscow and barcelona will be updating you about the situation on the ground throughout sunday. now police in canada are treating the robbing and stabbing of a fellow officer as terror related after finding an eyesore flag in the attackers car the thirty year old driver has been apprehended a manhunt followed the running of the officer he was stabbed several times though his injuries are life threatening the driver was stopped later but fled in a truck and hit at least four pedestrians in

a high speed police chases through the center of the city where no deaths have been reported though the condition of the victims is as yet unknown. for more on this incident let's cross live now to counter terrorism expert dr doug weeks well thank you very much indeed for joining us police say the suspect was known to them though and this is being the case with a recent terrorist act as across europe i mean does this mean that security services aren't doing enough or does it just show you how difficult it all is to stop i don't know it's really more an issue of the difficulty in your you're trying to stop well that's why. the believe that. the one that regards the around boarding various countries and i think that it becomes very difficult trying your day when there are local they're learning why. or

what is going on by actions and warm. i mean come the terrorists then be switching that focus to to countries like canada i mean after all this isn't the first i saw related incident in the country although i'm even focused on my meeting country. well there's a couple things going on i think with the first now i ask as. hockey learning. geography declines in iraq and in syria they are calling for work individuals who are sympathetic you know a lot to wage and catching water. or mammoth he kind of countries that maybe are. right it's not so and there it is a call if you will by us to try and have more of these attacks taking place as a way of trying to you can even send the message that they are attempting to send

and. i think that knowing when you see what's happening with this around the globe and it gets represented. the not only the challenge of the authorities have been trying to interject attacks by this might also represent them in their relatives such ones and in terms of action against iraq being bigger and war and violence in fact because now what you're saying is smaller so many missiles one two three times aren't going to use lower level attacks because there are an evil because of the effective response by me your marriage you know engage in larger attacks and so it's kind of a cowboy and sort of problem i guess if you want to look in a tough way yes these mortgage you know union job however that sounds

also comes more lowlevel and that's why. see. what else we if you could just stay with us for a moment because we have some some breaking news to report on that's coming through from southern france now and police that have shot dead a man always with a knife that was a train station the station since we know if i q i said well i witness to say the man was holding a knife and shouting god is great in arabic well some reports suggest that the man did not is to kill two people but we can't confirm this information at the moment we're expecting more to come through but if we can get got back not to you don't two weeks the terrorism experts i mean he's still in line talking to us i mean the instance not being confirmed as an act of terrorism we've just been hearing the news coming through that so many are already calling it that i mean does this suggest that a growing fear of terror after a string of similar attacks as we've seen across europe and also in north america you know i think so i mean you will have to wait until you. come out with an

accurate depiction of exactly why this occurred but that was it's ok because it actually can mean. you know i mean for. people to actually remedy. the. likely there is an attack perpetrated mice something. else and certainly with regards to your parents and in france in general and she certainly laura. just asked her i'm sorry but never want to not really tell you the. shirley temple attack i mean there was just a constant flow of q b. already are working diligently to try and come to grips with what's going on there

but now. huge challenge. last year the creation. i think. it will work to try to. avoid the. problem there and tell them they. have to leave that counts terrorism expert dr doug wakes thank you very much. and we'll be back with more news after the show.

this. business. it's not business is business like it's never been done. i.

welcome back all that's now returned to what's happening in catalonia which is fighting on his independence from spain today three hundred thirty seven people have now been injured in clashes with military police that's according to local authorities want to discuss this further i'm now joined like by economists paul craze paul thank you very much indeed for joining us well as we can see by some of the reaction here mean madrid seems determined not to allow the council on its to go ahead with this independence vote i mean i mean could there be strong economic reasons behind such an uncompromising stance i mean would it be a big loss for spain if it were to break away. yes of course it's funny. that the sions have said several times that you could tell on the leaves they look first of all a very important economic problem with

a lot you know one of the richest regions in spain. well some in catalonia are saying that effectively they get less back from the spanish government than they pay in taxes i mean how true is that as a as an economic truism is that the way case we've seen it six percent territory twenty percent of spanish g.d.p. does catalonia have a point. so sorry i can't hear you much because there speak behind me but can you repeat the question yes no problem selling catalonia complain they get less back from madrid than they pay to the government in taxes how true is that yeah that's completely true i mean there are several economic studies that prove these. days the lark that seems to some other rhythm receives very few that's one of the reasons why the movement for independence house rights

in the uk but it's not it's not the main reason accident actually with. the main reason probably from now on will be the violence of the spanish government just to avoid a vote i don't feel now that they can read any of the main reason it's especially at the demographic group of. us also looking at the two as they tied together the violence on the on the economic principles hammy on the other side of madrid claims economy is dependent on its ties to spain too dependent and independence would have a dramatic would have dramatic consequences for catalonia do you agree on that in terms of the economy and also now socially as well. oh no in terms of economic. issues do i i don't agree with them they say that the money of the bands on them because they they got our taxes so they just say if you where in the up and then.

you have very few money now to spend you will list the having very few money to spend but the truth is that we could have all that we pay we could be. european country as any other and also of course there are other social reasons historical regions linguistic reasons and especially the democratic regions in spain we've seen these days how. there are very very few of them across the standards with judges and courts that they just do obey the government and i think that that's been now the main reason way we want evidence. what's your sense of what happens after today economists paul chris thank you very much indeed for your thoughts thank you. thank you and. now to some of the stories that have shaped the week's news major tech firms are

cooperating with us or so it is by handing over information supposedly related to russian meddling in the twenty sixteen presidential election in a statement also took a swipe at this channel are safe jacqueline berger looks at the latest efforts to root out and 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 buys 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 they're 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. in syria government forces are clearing remaining terrorist pockets in terrorist or islamic states three years siege of the city was recently broken by the army and allied forces these are exclusive pictures from the western side of the euphrates river where government forces have made key gains and i think i still the russian military has now also established a bridge allowing almost cost across the river. well the remaining terrorists and areas or are now surrounded by both the syrian army and u.s. backed kurdish forces this week russian ministry of defense said these remaining

terror pockets will also soon be driven out well ossie travel to the city to witness the fighting and our correspondent what i guess day of has this report from the front line. four 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 you don't have saudi going on in 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 as sort 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 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 bank is key to liberating the city entirely isis still sends fighters and 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 big.