have a problem with them being there and for more we're joined now by political correspondent thomas sparrow who was at this weekend's demonstrations we just heard it described there thomas as chaos is that what you witnessed they were certainly not normal demonstrations we did see. specific clashes between the police and demonstrators in particular when the police try to dissolve the protest because they consider that people were not wearing mosque or a hearing to social distancing rules or in fact no one was wearing a mask we were also laughed at when we were wearing ourselves a mosque and at that time when police an ounce that they would dissolve the protests there were specific clashes and we also saw obviously afterwards what happened when they stormed the right stock building which is one of germany's most important buildings with a lot of symbolic importance because it's important to stress that in 1933 the nazis burned down that building when they were trying to sort of get rid of what was left of german democracy at the time so you can clearly say that this was very very important s

on the streets of berlin thomas sparrow thank you so much. well meanwhile in the united states huge crowds of marched for racial justice in washington d.c. the rally was held at the lincoln memorial where 57 years ago hundreds of thousands gathered to hear and to the king gave his i have a dream speech in which he pleaded for racial equality well the current activism comes after the police shooting of an african-american jack black one that has reignited tensions of the perceived police violence against people of color in the u.s. . tens of thousands of people at the lincoln memorial in washington d.c. . nearly 6 decades after martin luther king's march on washington the celebration of king's legacy mixed with shock and sadness at recent events. it comes after protests in connote show wisconsin this week turned violent after the police shooting of jacob blake a black man arson fendel ism then a 17 year old white vigilante col rittenhouse shown here in exclusive deed of a video allegedly shot 2 protesters dead further stoking tensions. back in

or on the streets of central berlin that's where we find correspondent thomas sparrow 2 thomas the situation has been in flux since the initial gathering of protesters what's happening where you are now. it has indeed been in flux and the protests began earlier today now we are hearing behind us some of the speeches there were indeed allowed after the protest and in fact some of the people who have been speaking behind us have been mentioning that one element that they want is for the government to change or at least to abolish the laws that have been put in place to fight the coronavirus pandemic some people also asking the german government to resign we've also been hearing from plenty of people here that they want more freedoms and more rights and they feel that some of those freedoms and those rights are being restricted by the government this is a very mixed bag of people here and in fact where we were previously we also saw that we were there were some standoff with police police try to these and the protests because people were not complying with face mask and social distancing regula

all right our correspondent thomas sparrow is standing by and demonstration here in berlin hello to you thomas we can already see quite a large crowd behind you tell us what is going on where you are. that's correct there is indeed a very big crowd where we are standing now in the center of their eyes are expecting around 20000 people to gather here in berlin today. to oppose coronavirus restrictions many people that we also spoke to earlier stressed that they want more freedoms in particular there is a big variety of people here from family family members parents but also this is a protest that has been co-opted if you will it to a large extent by the far right although some people here have told us that that is not the case that there are only a minority that people are particularly concerned about the current situation in the country and that they essentially want more freedoms one person even saying that he believes the coronavirus pandemic is fake now thomas as you were speaking we could hear a chanting in german vias and us fire which means we are the people what is the protestors

on the merkel speaking there i'm not joined by my colleague thomas sparrow from the w. politics times a pretty strong statement there from the america it was a pretty strong statement from her i'm going to call stressing that bella who says sovereignty should be respected around the possibility of russian forces intervening she said she hopes such a force would not need to intervene also stressed that she had tried to speak to me . on the phone but that he had declined so far i'm going to call emphasized that she believes it is important not only to talk to the russian president how about belarus but to other leaders as well but that so far mr has declined her offer to speak on the phone about the situation in that country. of commons russia's involvement looks likely to worsen the already tense times between the e.u. and moscow and between germany and moscow merkel also had a few words to say about russia's general behavior in the region let's have a quick listen. well you know it's. the annexation of crimea our attempts to have a couple of days at least without any fa

with that as the backdrop let's cross over to our correspondent thomas sparrow who is at the demonstration here in berlin thomas there were predictions in the lead off of up to 100000 people marching on the streets how big is the turnout. it is indeed big anthony but i can't obviously confirm whether there are 100000 at least from where we are standing there are hundreds of people here in central not far away from the main tourist sites and many of them we've been talking to they've been stressing that the common denominator if you will is that they want things to improve that there are against those restrictions imposed by the government to try and fight the coronavirus destructions one person even stressing that he believes the pandemic is fake but there is a it's a mixed bag of people here as well you can see also other people with other different slogans in fact we saw one person as well with a flag 2020 something particularly important that has happened also in recent minutes here is that police here in berlin have stressed that since people are not complying with social distancing ru

ok i'm joined in the studio now by dint of your political correspondent thomas sparrow thomas you were at the demonstration yesterday good to see you today on saturday rather during this protest we saw those dramatic scenes as the far right attempted to storm the parliament building breaking through the police lines there. that's led to condemnation from across the political spectrum that's correct so politicians from the german president found by the time i had to politicians from most parties have actually criticized very strongly what happened on saturday the images that we just saw. only members from the far right a f.t.v. a fifty's the largest opposition party in the parliament had a rather different view although they did condemn also the the images but at the same time they did stress that the actual grievances that people had with the actual. reason why they went to the streets were legitimate and that they thought that it was a good day if we talk specifically about the organizers of the protest of the knowledge of protests that drew 38000 people they also distance themselves

dozens of which are now joined by my colleague thomas sparrow from the politics thomas there's a pretty strong statement there from anglo american the situation in belarus is quite unusual isn't it that's correct and another freedom which merkel spoke about was press freedom asked by a colleague attending the press conference call indicated that germany pushes for press freedom in the world also in belarus and that what has happened recently in belarus where journalists have been detained is that contrary to press freedom also speaking on belarus are going to clearly indicate a warned against foreign intervention and mentioning the possibility of russian troops she said she hoped such a force would not be deployed deployed and that there should be a respect for the country's sovereignty indeed a very strong words by the chancellor on the situation in belarus and can't be easy for her to use those words because russia's involvement of a ruse already seem to impact the already tense time is between the e.u. and moscow between germany and moscow narco also had a few words to say about russ

on the streets of central building that's where we find correspondent thomas sparrow thomas the situation has been in flux since the initial gathering of protesters what's happening where you are now. it has indeed been in flux since the protests began earlier today now we are hearing behind us some of the speeches there were indeed allowed after the protest and in fact some of the people who have been speaking behind us have been mentioning that one element that they want is for the government to change or at least to abolish the laws that have been put in place to fight the coronavirus pandemic some people also asking the german government to resign we've also been hearing from plenty of people here that they want more freedoms and more rights and that they feel that some of those freedoms and those rights are being restricted by the government this is a very mixed bag of people here and in fact where we were previously we also saw that we were there were some stand ups with the police police try to days beyond the protests because people were not complying with face mask and social dis

dozens of which on the american medical speaking there are now joined by my colleague thomas sparrow from the politics times a pretty strong statement there from the america it was a pretty strong statement from her i'm going to call stressing that bella who says sovereignty should be respected on the possibility of russian forces intervening she said she hoped such a force would not need to intervene also stressed that she had tried to speak to me . on the phone but that he had declined so far i'm going to call emphasized that she believes it is important not only to talk to the russian president how about belarus but to other leaders as well but that so far mr brokaw shameka has declined her offer to speak on the phone about the situation in that country and almost russia's involvement in barrow's looks likely to worsen the already tense times between the e.u. and moscow and between germany and moscow merkel also had a few words to say about russia's general behavior in the region that's have a quick listen. well you know it's. the annexation of crimea our attempts to have a couple

dozens of which are now joined by my colleague thomas sparrow from the politics thomas there's a pretty strong statement there from anglo-american on the situation and by the.

all right our correspondent thomas sparrow is standing by at that demonstration here in berlin hello to you thomas we can already see quite a large crowd behind you tell us what is going on where you are. that's correct mariano there is indeed a very big crowd where we are standing now in the center of their eyes are expecting around 20000 people to gather here in berlin today. to oppose coronavirus restrictions many people that we also spoke to earlier stressed that they want more freedoms in particular there is a big variety of people here from family.

and merkel speaking there i'm not joined by my colleague thomas sparrow from the w. politics times a pretty strong statement there from the america. it was a pretty strong statement from her i'm going to call stressing that belarus's sovereignty should be respected around the possibility of russian forces intervening she said she hopes such a force would not need.