well our correspondent thomas sparrow is at the demonstration and berlin and he joins us now so thomas is quite noisy behind you can you tell us who organized today's rally in berlin and who are the people taking part. about 250 organizations and initiatives coldfield these protests today here in berlin in 7 german cities in 42 european cities the goals are very varied from the organizations that we've seen here you see political parties in particular from the left of the same to left all to represented also going to is asians that want more to be done against climate change that are in favor of refugees or asylum so a wide variety of organizations and initiatives the general motto here though of this event in bali don't know the cities is your vote for europe and against nationalism so that gives you an idea of what voters here are expecting on what they want from this demonstration only one week before those elections across europe which are being described as absolutely crucial all right thomas so a wide range of organizations but give us a sense of the people around you that you ar

our correspondent thomas sparrow is at that demonstration in berlin thomas thanks for being here who exactly is rallying in berlin today a mixture of folk on his ations around 250 organizations on initiatives. protester day and other german cities and in other cities around europe according to organizers there are more than 40 european cities where people today are protesting in favor of the e.u. against nationalism and populism some of the organizations here are left leaning organizations we've also seen some political parties in particular from the center left all the left of the political spectrum also joining forces what they want to say is that they're against populism and nationalism and they've been asking people to go to vote in the elections next week which they are describing as very important even a crucial for the future of europe thomas as you know demonstrations are also being held in other european cities do you get the sense that the rallies will make a difference in how the outcome of next week's european elections go. told that is exactly what the organizers wanted

and let's go right to milan thomas sparrow is standing by for us there he's been covering the vote in italy for us hi thomas so polls have closed there do we have any idea at this point how the results are looking. so we the 1st numbers have just been published you can imagine the reaction here from those 1st numbers we can see that the league is said to have between 27 and 30 percent that is a bit of than what they had actually expected but speaking previously to some members of the league here they had said that even if it were below the 30 percent mark that they had set themselves then they would still try and present that i mean a way as a victory because it's more than what they got in any case 5 years ago in the european election back then then for the democratic party which actually won the election 5 years ago there was you have less of a percentage at this time fewer votes but it's still between $5.24 so relatively good result for them because according to that they would finish 2nd even above the 5 star movement which is said to have between $20.23 again these results have t

thomas sparrow the story tonight. thank you. here are some of the other stories making headlines around the world. austrian lawmakers have approved law banning headscarves in primary schools, adding to existing resestrictions on veil. it mentions the wearing of religiously characterized clothing that covers the head. islamic organizations are threatening legal action. german chancellor angela merkel has quashed speculation that she might seek a job in the european union after stepping down as germany's leader. she gave up the leadership of her center-right party and said she will not seek a fifth term as chancellor. flashes have broken out and india controlled kashmir after a gunbattle between security forces and separatists killed five people. residents at the funeral confronted indian troops with stones and barricades. in pakistan, unscrupulous marriage brokers are promising desperate families money and a better life for their daughters. the catch, though. the young women from the christian community must marry and moved to ch

our correspondent thomas sparrow ease at that demonstration in berlin thomas who was rallying here in berlin. this demonstration here in the heart of it is about 2 and one of the city's main same both the victory column which you see behind me on this organized it was all organized by a group of about 2 $150.00 ok guys asians and initiatives most of them from the center left to the left of the political spectrum that included also political parties that were right here protesting for europe and against the. and nationalism motto of all of this the slogan if you will was vote on the 26 for europe and against nationalism. will demonstrations are also being held in other european cities do you get the sense that the rallies will make a difference in the outcome of next week's european elections. i get a sense that they want to send a message i get a sense that they want to send a message in particular now that you've been discussing this situation in austria i what i sense that they want to send a message that it's time to vote against parties that are described as populist and nationali

for any now at the european front to try and bring those parties together to form that alliance thomas sparrow in milan thank you very much . here in germany it was a miserable night for the parties that make up the national government angela merkel's conservatives and her coalition partners the social democrats together they lost one was 20 percent of the votes the biggest winners were the german greens who doubled their showing a result that propels them into 2nd place the far right if the party also gained ground but lost support in comparison to the last national election. i sometimes reaction speak louder than words the german greens ecstatic as they watched their vote sarge this triumph belt off the back of young voters under climate and marriage and say i warning shots of the country's government was the signal used the signal today is that the german government has been voted down as a result of its hesitation on climate protection and its failure to unify europe. up give your god yes we are fighting for european solidarity and strong climate protection emotional. at the c.d.u. party t

correspondent thomas sparrow welcome to tell us.more than 30 percent of italian the voters recommend intended to vote for salbi nice populist lega unknown populist party is therefore in retreat in italy. they are certainly having problems in fact if you know the center left he did that's a party he had that into. 1014 in the previous election actually got the majority of votes in italy and won the european election italy 5 years ago it will not be the same this case judging by the surveys that we have seen the p.d. has suffered as other parties in in europe from what voters described as not being in tune with their interests or not knowing exactly what voters want and it seems that voters have punished once again p.d. for that aspect and in turn many frustrated voters have gone to other parties one of them being where we are right now and then later headquarters and the man responsible for trying to get some of those votes is the man that you see the jaime in those posters there was a weenie who is the interior minister but he's als

thomas sparrow welcome thomas how. the league looking at this point. it is still a bit early to say phil because polls close at 11 o'clock at night so italy is actually the last country where polls close but from surveys that have been published in advance of this election it seems that my party will have a very big improvement compared to the election results in 2014 when they had around 6 percent of the vote and now they look as though they're going to be the top party in italy with around 30 percent but again it is still a bit too early to say and we have to see whether. those are the promises matters are being use of proposals right here in milan have actually found support from the voters who are still going to the polls here in italy. but i will let's take a look at how opinion polls before the election put the populist strength. as we can see 13 percent that's nearly a 3rd of all the target of voters tend to vote for a right wing populist party in the country thomas along populist party is in retreat we're. told they are in a crisis very tiny is

did obvious thomas sparrow is in milan he spoke to us earlier about how the results might affect italy's political landscape. exactly was around 1 in the morning when salvini stormed into this room here in the party headquarters and without accepting any questions he spoke about a moment of responsibility in italy about historic mission to defend its release interests into these values and he once again demonstrated that for him this goes well beyond it to these borders it is something international and he spoke about the results in france and the results in the united kingdom for faraj and spoke about a sign that that means that europe is changing as far as the internal politics in each of the concerned because again there has been speculation about what the results could mean for each of these governing coalition he said that he will be back to work in rome tomorrow and he does not see the coalition partners as enemies but that his adversities are on the left side of the political spectrum for so for him back to work tomorrow after this result that he described obviously as one very im

did obvious thomas sparrow has been following the italy vote for us from milan and he gave us this reaction too much of a nice post results press conference. it was around 1 in the morning when salvini stole into this room here in the party headquarters and without accepting any questions he spoke about a moment of responsibility and it's really about historic mission to defend it's at least interests and it's of these values and you once again demonstrated that for him this goes well beyond it to these borders it is something international and he spoke about the results in france and the results in the united kingdom for faraj and spoke about a sign that that means that europe is changing as far as the tunnel politics in each of the concern because again there has been speculation about what the results could mean for each of these governing coalition he said that he will be back to work in rome tomorrow and he does not see the coalition partners as enemies but that he's a verse or is there on the left side of the political spectrum for so for him back to work tomorrow after this result th

correspondent thomas sparrow joins us now from milan thomas we've just heard the party's leader speakin there so has. only provided the springboard to building that pen nationalist front. well he certainly believes that is the case and that's something that he repeated today he also mentioned that earlier this morning at 1 o'clock in the morning when he stormed into this room here to talk to the journalists about what he obviously described as a very big victory for his party and his goal is indeed as we just heard in the sound bite to try and form an alliance with other like minded groups in europe and has already stressed that he will obviously focus on migration which has been his key topic in the last few months but he also spoke right here about fiscal issues about defending the workers in italy reducing unemployment there was even talk of maybe reopening fiscal talks with the european union those are issues that sardinia has mentioned he wants to bring to that european parliament now that he has led a party that is becoming one of the key parties in a european platform what is a