for a party america is. better than. the c. . heard of. jack the. president of the world bank he. sent us an e-mail. i. i almost half a million people protesting catalonia is madrid decides to impose direct rule to smith's key officials and call for a regional election. r.t. is come under scrutiny with you case foreign secretary boris johnson britain's the times newspaper and the european think tank all slamming this channel and insulting our. hails the liberation of the syrian city of rock from islamic states by u.s. bank opposition forces the city has been left in.

getting me to you great to have you with us this hour my name's the harvey this is are. hundreds of thousands of people have been on to the streets of catalonia expressing their support or opposition to the move for independence and this follows madrid's decision to impose direct rule to strip the local government of its powers spanish government is also calling for a regional election within six months catalan leaders branded the move a coup. but you have this measure we are going to implement has a lot to do with the goal of holding an election in catalonia the region will have to hold an election within six months but my intention is to hold it as soon as we recover. all of us by. the spanish government has carried out the worst attack against scotland institutions and residence since the orders of the military

dictator francisco franco we. were hawaii in a greatly irresponsible act christ albans aris band asking at a factor coup d'etat to ask the democratically elected government. of the transfer of powers to madrid and the dismissing of officials alleged to have broken the law is expected to be approved by the senate within days while the catalan parliament won't be dissolved it will now be stripped of its capacity to elect a president. protests continue in the streets of wasilla and across the region of council anya now people that gathered here in this area of the city earlier well they were against the independence and many of them were from different union shops the region now they came here this sunday with their families and with their friends they brought flags shelf spain and they were shouting slogans including out of a spine you know which means

a long live spain at the same time on saturday we saw tans of thousands of either a protest or is that also a ticket to the streets of boston lawn and they were supporting independence and they were supporting the results of the referendum that took place on the first of october now all these people now feel that they are. it will in no way stuck in a state of limbo and at least for the next six months now we managed to speak to some of them here in the streets of barcelona and. it's nonsense that the cattle a region wants to become independent it's about territorial unity formed in the roman times spanish unity is worth fighting for against the nonsensical actions of the council on board was. to me though we've come here to honor and express respect to the spanish armed forces because they're insulted and blamed in catalonia the children of the civil god and national police offices are told in school that their fathers to reduce the spanish constitution does not forsee any referendum because

it's illegal and most of all it doesn't foresee a referendum to break up spain for centuries spain was one it won't break up to do the will of criminals poesy differing mood among people industries and a lot of uncertainty really old this shows a deep crisis that the region is at the moment and it is indeed the biggest constitutional crisis this country has seen in decades now many believe that the inability to really go. ways out of the situation between the spanish government and the a local catalan officials at last to this particular situation to this crisis now spanish government gave the catalan leader up until last thursday to back away from proclaiming independence out or to be ready to face the possibility of a direct rule coming from a treat. catalan as sore it is it kept confirming the independence however at the same time they're also kept suspending the declaration of independence and all

these allowed to the events of saturday when the spanish government and nouns that it isn't vote king article one fifty five of the constitution for the first time avar and this measure can only be applied if a regional government does not comply with the obligations of the constitution so now spanish prime minister met and calling for a snap elections to take place in this region within the next six months he is also calling for the dismissal of the local government asked the local government allowed to this crisis but important detail is that all these measures should first be approved by the majority of the spanish senate but nonetheless what we're witnessing here is a big crisis not only a constitutional crisis but also a crisis within the the nation within the catalan people. we spoke to thomas hartington who's a professor of iberian studies he says that exerting this kind of pressure in

a democratic country is not legitimate. what is the role of the force in elective democracies in the twenty first century. i think the consensus on the catalan side is a very strong one and i can't imagine that the people who are rightfully elected in the september two thousand and fifteen elections going along with a new election after the government that they were elected to form part of is is overthrown by the central of artes and i think president bush among makes a very compelling find when he says well if this can be done to us what other things can be done to other people if you're going to sit by and let it happen. throughout the week madrid has been tightening its grip over catalonia on monday to independence leaders were arrested for the roles they played in organizing the referendum one of them is the leader of the catalan national assembly the other is the president of an organization that promotes the council on language and culture

since then barcelona has seen even bigger demonstrations uniting hundreds of thousands of people thank god that that was. shot. was not. but that was something that i think that us all of us as. i take a look now at just how spain has been cracking down on catalonia push for independence.

those in charge in the council on government who are the protagonist in this challenge to coexistence and i ask them to cease illegal activity they should abandon their object.

if you need we are now applying article one five five because no government at all in a democratic country can accept that the law will be ignored violated changed this has all happened under false criteria and they impose their criteria on everybody else. r.t. has faced a week of intense scrutiny with the channel coming under sustained attack for what critics have called its kremlin propaganda hawkins explains altie has been in the spotlight for a while under fire from government officials the media even think tanks here are some recent highlights. boris johnson led the charge in the u.k. house of commons with an attack on opposition m.p.'s who have appeared on this channel if you study the output of of russia today it is a scandal it is a scandal that members of the party opposite are continuing to validate

to validate to meet. that kind of propaganda by going on those programs but some of his fierce criticism of the foreign secretary of peers to have missed out a bit of important information his own conservative colleagues have also appeared as guests on the shuttle as well as someone closer to home his own father stanley johnson was interviewed by going on the ground i was afshin rattansi just last month. the times newspaper claims there are now calls by the labor party for the u.k. media watchdog to investigate artie's advertising campaign on the london underground they even contacted us for our take on the matter later saying our press office refused to comment except we did two questions do you wish to respond to this complaint which advertising agency created the adverts for r t what were they made in-house. high probably not much point in responding to

a complaint to an authority that does not regulate out of two advertising the ad campaign was developed in-house by the other team and fully proved by all u.k. vendettas we are glad to say many in the u.k. are engaging with our advertising understood thanks for swift response. and it gets better one thing thank recently completed the mom of task of compiling a list of all the thousands of get. suv appeared all our shows ever from politicians and journalists to academics and thirties and even groups them into categories and then dismisses them as useful idiots many people in europe and the us including politicians and of the persons of influence continue to exhibit

troubling naivety about r.t.s. political agenda these useful idiots remain oblivious to r.t.c. intentions and b.c. it's legitimate see by granting interviews on the shows and news casts so only useful idiot list john mccain one of the most vocal critics of russia even film director rob reiner gets a mention in the celebrity section he's now part of an organization called the committee to investigate russia as not to mention u.s. senator and former presidential candidate bernie sanders as well as none other than the current american president donald trump i guess that's finally the smoking gun of russian election influence former first lady michelle obama gets a mention although her name only appears in the program description she was never an actual guest checking the episodes would have confirmed this back to boris johnson himself he's listed on the reports official guest list taken from web site descriptions for the comedy show news thing well they may want to double check that

one as well its power in say three boris johnson boris welcome. are we going to get a chance to fight the spanish before america and russia killer saw. the . proportion of the reporters sponsored by george soros as well as the u.k. and u.s. embassies in the czech republic it certainly spares no criticism of those giving interviews on this channel. well we decided to ask some of our guests who were mentioned in that list of useful idiots what they thought about the description. development is somehow trash it gets more and more aggressive across europe the political debates and one of these games they are playing. they are destroying the reputation of politicians they don't like i don't think that it's fair to say that

we are simply hearers russian stooges i am not anti russian but sometimes i'm quite critical of russia over syria and over the detention of political prisoners like eldad and others. you know of course everybody has their agendas but r.t. i think has certainly not tried to constrain my expression or the expression of many other people i know i work with a network we speak our mind and we're critical of the west when it's appropriate and were critical of russia when it's appropriate. the reality is there is a dissident voice in the u.k. the only very rarely gets any airtime in the mainstream media r.t. is is the only place that has been providing a regular platform for what used to be dissident voices in the u.k. but now much more mainstream voices the recent attacks on r.t. committed a frenzy of claims about brush meddling the latest has appeared in britain where

a labor party and piece called for a probe into moscow's alleged interference in last year's regs it. given the widespread public concern over foreign and particularly russian interference in western democracies we're sure sure of this house that the government and the electoral commission will examine these reports very carefully and reassure our country that all of the resources spent in the referendum was from permissible sources very. well and the hysteria has been making headlines for months now it started with an alleged moscow meddling in the us election then it moved on to the french election and then on to the german vote and of even been suggestions that russians hacked the catalan independence vote president putin says it's all part of a deliberate campaign launched after donald trump's victory. so sure it's the us who put up with this some president and then to a russian campaign which was not provoked by anything someone lost the elections to

mr trump and russia was blamed for this than they unfolded this anti russian hysteria and now any failure will be connected to us. some of the loudest complaints been coming from the politician who claims that russian interference close to the us presidency. in germany members of parliament have been hacked by russian. and france crowns campaign was hit by a massive cyber attack just before their presidential election. now the evidence that russia has a hockey e-mails civil civil war that is not possible to so you've obviously as stated silverstein

a criminal group it really can be anyone. still the simplicity of the technical part can make us think it's just a simple person who created it and so this person can be in any country with any kind of motivation. maybe you've even seen the ads and on london underground on the one russian state funded propaganda distorted bragging watch arky and find out who we are planning to . the fact is they're also opening a new scottish. goes to show you yet again the hysteria the absolute mind boggling hysteria that occurs whenever the word russian. whenever it's even mentioned people say. russians are added again how are they at it again i

don't know but you know how they are who are russia and what russia and those russians. well this week's top stories coming up including france adopts a new counterterrorism bill but civil liberties groups are up and i'll explain why after the short break. here in southern russia. in the fall by discussion club and our topic is u.s. russia relations and the state of the world.

welcome back this week the pentagon confirmed victory for coalition led could these troops fighting islamic state in the syrian city of raka the defense department the operation is a significant breakthrough. we have a great success against what was once known as the core caliphate iraq in syria and

now we're actually in the beginning i think the stone age and why for the caliphate it's rocket however the latest pictures from iraq all show that despite the victory it is now a virtual ghost town the destruction you can see here was caused by a combination of militias shelling and coalition air strikes aid agencies also say a huge effort will be needed to end the city's humanitarian crisis i still claim drac are as it's de facto capital back in two thousand and fourteen the first major offensive against the terrorists there began two years later used to be one of syria's largest cities now it is mainly in ruins.

recently called mission after us is we're ready to demolish the whole building to target one member of i say they have no problem killing civilians. we ran from death and any human being would be afraid the sound of the planes makes us afraid they were shelling the civilians destroying buildings and houses rakhal was destroyed by a coalition aircraft only ten percent hit the targets the rest hit civilians. the un estimates that's an average of twenty seven people are being killed in iraq every day. and they seem to be no real escape for these civilians their level of suffering friends relatives family of the children it's actually. it's just i get it.

would be humanitarian relief teams are only now beginning to arrive there has been a destruction in the larger supply their political mission of food because of course the area was under siege for such a long time there is a severe lack of medical services medical care hospitals that are functioning a severe lack a lot of course and so there is a massive massive humanitarian need on the ground. numbers of the u.s. led coalition have already pledged millions in humanitarian help to iraq are but this is prompting questions from russia's defense ministry which has provided aid to other liberated syrian cities what is this rush of western countries to finance rucka alone by a storm it seems only one thing remains to quickly cover the tricks of the barbaric bombing of the u.s. and the coalition which buried thousands of civilians liberated from mosul in the ruins of record. the french parliament has adopted

a controversial counter-terror bill which she gives increased powers to security services the new law is drawing wide scale criticism though from rights advocates who fear that it will curb civil liberties police will now have even greater powers to search homes without a warrant to conduct stop and search operations on the streets the lore also lets or thirty's wiretap communications more including phones and e-mail places of worship suspected of promoting extremism extremism may also be temporarily shut down the architect of the law is president himself he says that this is an alternative to the current state of emergency which has already been extended six times. you did one office on a security the anti terror draft law on the reinforcement of internal security has been adopted by a parliamentary majority and it will come into power and november of the first when the state of emergency expires the state of emergency was

a fact however we've seen in recent months that unfortunately doesn't protect us from the reality of certain tax because any state of emergency can protect us in totally reduce the threat fronts a state of emergency is due to be lifted at the beginning of next month it was first issued following the terrorist attacks in paris in twenty fifteen that many fear that the new move encroaches an even more basic freedoms we gazed reaction on the streets of paris. you know marching with no i don't agree with it and i'm sure we can do things differently i don't think it is the way to solve the problem of terrorism. i think that when you look for something to have real reasons for doing so me personally i'm not against it. but i really don't think it will help to fight any terrorists it will only harm personal freedoms and i believe it is designed more to control the people and only the more your point where it is all i think we already have the means to control people there are already laws in place we know we

are under control and i phones are being monitored if they were now be able to get into our apartments i don't believe the goal is fighting terror. earlier the un also slammed tara billet the measures if implemented would limit freedoms in french society political analyst on glazebrook warns the new law won't work if france doesn't change its policies don't deal with the root causes which is the brutal foreign policy on the one hand and then the alienation of entire communities systematic institutional discrimination racism on the other hand if you're not going to deal with those even the most vicious police state will not be able to stop there being some people who decide to lash out unfortunately you're never going to be able to keep your population one hundred percent safe because your whole farm policy is about setting fire to two other countries and that is it right up to date thanks staying with us this evening on r.t. international join me for the latest news headlines on more at the top of the hour

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