constitutional law hong kong court rules against a ban on face masks amid a violent standoff between police and protesters at the university. college from doha everyone i'm come on santa maria with the world news from al jazeera iran's president has condemned protests over the rise of petrol prices but says poor families will start seeing some benefits also protests outside of a court in barcelona as the regional leader goes on trial and the victims of the

worst massacre carried out by colombia's func rebels are being buried 17 years later. sorry hong kong's high court has ruled an emergency law which banned facemasks one by pro-democracy protesters is in fact unconstitutional might remember chief executive carol i'm sure introduced the ban back in october trying to stem all of that violence we've seen i think is that dates back to british colonial era law and the court has now ruled it incompatible with today's basic law the ban on face masks really only inflame the situation there was an escalation in protests and violence and destruction most recently monday riot police surrounded the university campus after the protesters who were holed up inside 3 petrol bombs and shot arrows at them and in just the past few hours police have started to arrest a number of. protesters there were also trying to leave that campus so we'll get an

update from rob mcbride in hong kong in just a moment but we want to start with sara clark's reports on how the standoff unfolded through the night. with parts of the polytechnic university a blaze police moved in to clear the protesters they barricaded themselves on campus students fled as riot police fired tear gas and made arrests. if you. will for her proposal wolf we are told. this time after american standoff with protesters blocking all access to the university making petrol bombs and devices to keep police right squad surrounded the university after a day of violence confrontations an officer shot by an arrow some students fled on roads and an overpass others refused to leave i wanted democracy and freedom will come home call put this in syria file away from us the stare will let just fights

at the last moments to see this. and just get down. hong kong central cross harbor tunnel where mines blocked causing major traffic congestion on monday schools are also shut for a 2nd week as well as classes at major universities this area remains in lockdown major roads are blocked in one of the busiest parts of hong kong as raw place move in to mike arrests and crackdown on those protesters who by this area the new battleground the anti-government movement. demonstrations now in their 5th month the government has warned it will escalate its efforts to still come in a city that's been rocked by its worst political crisis in decades. al-jazeera hong kong. as promised here is rob mcbride now for an update rob what's actually going on today it looks quiet behind you but i don't know if appearances can be deceptive . it's incredibly tense here at the moment but

it is as you mentioned they're relatively quiet we've had earlier in the day as sara has been explaining that there has been these mass arrests of some of the students on mass surrenders people coming out either getting arrested or giving themselves up we haven't seen any of that in the past few hours there are still moments of. drama if you like here just about half an hour ago come all 3 students came out and suddenly appeared on this war behind me on the top of the walkway and started running along seemingly trying to make a break for freedom and suddenly the police who were all around this area under the bridge and so on were running around chasing them firing projectiles at them firing also a lot of tear gas and finally the students made their way down to the end of this walkway where we assume that they were then arrested but also at the end of this

walkway that's where a number of local residents also some family members parents of the students inside are just waiting to see what is going to happen and there were some very emotional scenes there when some of these students are arrested it does create. a very strong feelings here amongst certainly the parents a but also local people that seeing what's happened to these students especially as they face the potential of such serious charges the police have already said that they will be charged with rioting that in hong kong carries a sentence of maybe up to 10 years or so it's not clear just how many other students want to come out and want to face those charges whether they will try to evade police the best the police seem to be offering is that if you do come out and you give up your weapons and your helmets and you'll hear gas mask then we will mention that in court in your favor which doesn't seem. to be

a very persuasive argument for a lot of people here just on the issue of masters you mention and there we have the court ruling that the ban on facemasks was unconstitutional i guess that's something of a victory for the protesters but as we report they've all still been wearing them anyway. that's right absolutely i mean everybody was just disregarding that but i mean the value of it for the off our t's is it therefore gave them an excuse to make an arrest and it gave them another offense to put them in court with very quickly the some people in the pro-democracy camp would say far too quickly police have been using the offense of wearing a mask and the judiciary departments are laying that charge against people putting them in court and so it does people have been prosecuted for that which does question whether those those charges those sentences will have to be looked at it also has to be pointed out that this was

a decision by the high court and in hong kong's legal system that can be challenge so in theory the government could take it to the quarter final appeal that remains to be seen but yes that would be considered to be by people. here in hong kong to be something of a victory thank you rob mcbride in hong kong. to other news iran's president says families will start receiving financial assistance from monday and money will come from a steep rise in petrol prices which has triggered protests around the country in fact at least $2.00 people have been killed since those demonstrations began president hassan rouhani says while people do have the right to protest they to protest they cannot spread insecurity no cio having more doubt it we have witnessed how some people have gone to the streets after the implementation of the decision to increase the price of petrol people have the right to protest but we will not allow the targeting of security or the spread of chaos and riots in the country the decision to increase the price of petrol belongs to the regime and not

only to the government the people should not worry about the implementation because its revenue will be distributed back to the people. and spoke to dr bari in tehran now any thoughts on how people might react to this announcement from president rouhani. welcome all they're still waiting to receive that money and it's not clear how many how much they will receive today many people i spoke to this morning say that they're not sure the amounts are going to receive later in their accounts there's about 20000000 people that will receive their subsidies today and the next batch will be on thursday and the last final batch of people that are going to receive this subsidies will be next sunday 60000000 people in total about 18000000 families that will be getting this help from the government but the president was adamant that they didn't have much choice that the government was trying to help the poor in the country they said that they

had 3 options one was to raise the taxes across the board inside the country the 2nd was to increase the sale of oil in the international market which the president explained is not possible at the moment because of the u.s. sentients and the 3rd was soon crease fuel prices now that's what they decided to do and their decision was made within the 3 branches of government the legislative the judiciary and the presidential office they all decided on this together and the supreme leader himself also backed the decision on sunday saying that it was the right thing to do but the people on the ground have a very different opinion they say that this is not how it should have been done it's not the right time and also they're concerned that they will have this fuel hike will have ramifications in other sectors of their lives the other thing that's been happening inside the country is we've heard of a 3rd death that's been recorded just outside of tehran of a military personnel who's been killed overnight they say that they are being

attacked by thugs and hooligans they've been attacking police stations and gas stations across the country and we've heard that they've closed they've announced the closures of schools all across 78 cities including shiraz and as fond in iran this is something that we've been hearing about. as a result of the security issues that's been happening over the past 3 days they government has announced the security apparatus rather has announced the internet has been shut down iranians right now do not have access to the outside world only iranian websites are being allowed to be accessed online thank you for that update that's still into. now count on separatist leader kim torah is on trial today in barcelona for disobedience he's accused of defying is made by the spanish electoral authority tensions and high in the region since the journey of a number of separate to sleep is lost. his son you're going to go now in barcelona

hassan you're exactly what he's going to order a face into the. century kemal war president the president president kim daughter is facing are accusations that he did not a did to rules of neutrality during his presidency during the april general election campaign period in which they were separatist symbols that were hung outside public offices including the l a ribbons that many procession ists where calling for independence of the catalan region as well as the release of what they say are the political prisoners who were sentenced last month for sedition he is the 3rd consecutive regional president to be. prosecuted essentially for contravening madrid's of the central

government in madrid's rules on the on this however he is not facing any particular act of sedition at all it is merely for disobedience for not complying with the law during that period of time meanwhile came thought about himself has been saying that what he has been doing really has been putting forward defending the rights of of capsulize citizens and that he is not turning up to court to defend himself but to accuse the spanish states of violating his rights the rights of catalan citizens course they're happy not to say she is that king daughter really is only really representing. a section of catalan society and that is of the pro separatists boys this is the knock you say. he has been accused of time and time again and that in this role as president he should be a daring to the rules of neutrality not just representing the one side that is what the spanish states are saying the prosecution that is ok we'll talk to you again

later about this one sunny thank you. still ahead though on al-jazeera has new president sworn in after a nationalist campaign promising to crush what he calls religious extremism and severe food and fuel shortages hit bolivia as supporters of the former president barricade major roads. hello it's apparently a never ending train for italy of rain and the wind blows the top into that is yes venice is still flooded and also the cloud has moved away in the frontal system that brought rain and or snow has gone away it's not the last one of the series the current picture is wants ahead of it look at this not in bucharest so it's in warsaw even vienna temperatures are rising but cold behind snow even at low levels

for a time in front your lesson is focus and that development in the western med is the one to watch because it's winds itself up it brings yet more rain this is cheering tomorrow for not just asleep but southern france and slovenia with once more fair amount of rather wet heavy snow for the alps already in fact in the tirol there is an avalanche risk that's just going to be enhanced and the warm stays in the east so the chain of events is rain moving north was dying out and repeating itself of course some of that rain goes south of the water and for particularly morocco and algeria that will be rain throughout rest day and probably tomorrow here's a forecast and robots and i'll just run about middle teens with persistent rain might be sundry but it will be west disappointing news slowly eastwood's during tuesday towards tunis. was sponsored by can't.

deal with poverty unless you deal with the gap you just said oh i just agree with that toy this sounds like blaming the public the country for the arts in the fall of the naming anybody these people well trained as much a part of the islamic state machine as something very enlightened version of populism alters future join me as i put the questions to my special guest and challenge them to some straight talking political debate. al-jazeera. we were down to 0 these are our top stories a victory for pro-democracy protesters in hong kong off the high court ruled

a ban on face masks was unconstitutional but it's usually follows a violent standoff with police as the university. iran's president says families will start receiving financial assistance on monday that money will come from a steep rise in petrol prices which have triggered protests around the country at least $2.00 people have been killed since the demonstrations began and separatist president came to a has arrived at court for a trial of disobedience he's accused of defying orders from the spanish electoral by not removing the yellow ribbon a symbol of support for tottenham independence from a government building. the inauguration ceremony has been held for sri lanka's new president got the biologic packs are going victory after a campaign marked by nationalist rhetoric and promises of better security now he has the task of lifting the country out of an economic slump made worse by the bombings in east a male finance as has more from the put. there were basically all roads leading to

the ruined. in. historic temple dating back centuries where go to harvard rajapaksa has decided to take the oath of office it's a no dog to the huge majority of single of his voters that placed their faith in him with an overwhelming sort of a number in terms of that victory i mean essentially on the outset and particularly coming into the campaigns that sort of security angle national security post the easter bombings were a big big factor for sure lankans who had had the kind of ground pulled from underneath them after those bombings and the huge loss of life and that was one of the key sort of advantages gore tabio rajapaksa played to in his campaign but the huge task he has ahead of him in lifting the sri lankan economy out of the doldrums is a mammoth task for him now obviously the country the economy has

a huge debt burden the former malaysian prime minister now due process has appeared in court for a new corruption trial he's already involved in 2 other court cases but the princes on occasions he and his family lucid a state investment fund in a multibillion dollar fraud scandal spanning 6 countries this latest case will examine accusations he tampered with an investigation looking into the financial scandal which he denies the allegations and says the charges are all politically motivated. bolivians are facing food and fuel shortages supporters of the former president evo morales continue to block roads the new interim government says it's created a so-called air bridge to the main city that is military planes to delivering supplies they're working on similar plans now for other cities of course resigned and fled to mexico after winning the election which many believe was richt but he still has a lot of support in poor rural areas reports now from

a stronghold in central bolivia. the city of the province of bison mourning. the penis was shot during a protest carried out by a will more or less supporters here his relatives say she was shot in the head. we are said and her to because he is not the only one that was killed they took the others a few hours away we want a solution because when we took him to the clinic we had to pay a lot we want justice. even when alice resigned last week after being accused by the oas of committing fraud in the presidential elections but for these people he was the man who dignified. most of the people are from indigenous communities and our coca leaves growers and they were trying to go through the main road towards the capital past but they were prevented by the police they had to escape and they're telling us that they were ambushed right in this. facebook live video

filmed by one of the protesters. was 18 years old and was shot in the stomach while filming the clashes live. he was killed that day. they are militarizing this whole area because they want to believe we are criminals they shot at us from everywhere and they couldn't do it because we are poor. the actions of security forces are currently being investigated they're accused of using live ammunition and excessive force on demonstrators the interim american court of human rights says at least 9 people were killed here and over 130 were injured. man says the response by the military was disproportionate. what happened was a massacre in this country they want to say it was a confrontation on friday the government issued a decree that exonerates the armed forces of any killing and one hour after that

decree the police and the military started using live ammunition against protesters . the government says the protesters were infiltrated by foreigners and were using improvised weapons. i have asked the attorney general to investigate what happened he told me the delay was because of did not want to be the bodies. general to investigate this as soon as possible because tropic was the launching pad for political career as a leader of the. federation many people here remain loyal to him and do not trust in the new interim administration. at call for elections and. crucial to prevent further loss of life. haiti's president says he is holding talks to form a unity government where he says his country needs international support after 2

months of antigovernment protests made the country's dire humanitarian situation even worse there was widespread anger over high inflation crime and allegations of corruption he has been without a functioning government since march due to a stalemate in parliament on account of your group. we are meeting with civil groups we're also talking to important people of the moderate political opposition such as those of the radical opposition we are also talking to people from civil society from the private sector now i see that all people are agreeing with a solution to the crisis but opposition parties are actually rejecting his call for unity will actually show that yes we say that the solution to the crisis is through the resignation of president jovan l. boys there is no possibility of sharing anything with you of an old boy as he has to resign to reach a transition that is different from what we have known before. palestinian journalists of rallied in support of

a colleague who was shot while covering protests in the occupied west bank dozens of war i patches to denounce the wounding of. the last vision in the left eye from what he believes was israeli fire israeli police deny that he was targeted the palestinian journalist syndicate says 60 journalists have been hit by live ammunition just this year. north korean leader kim jong un has supervised military drills in defiance of calls for diplomacy and he's promised to build a quote invincible army that is according to state media comes a day after the u.s. and south korea called off their joint military drills as they try to resume the stalled nuclear talks and russia is set to return 3 captured naval ships to ukraine ahead of a planned peace summit next month the vessels have been moved to a handover location in the black sea russia seized the ships off the coast of crimea a year ago more than 13000 people have been killed in eastern ukraine over the past

5 years in fighting between pro russia separatists and ukrainian forces. thousands of people marched in greece as capital to mark the 46th anniversary of a student uprising that helps topple a former military dictatorship police were out in force to prevent violence and arrested almost 30 people john psaropoulos has the support from athens. young and old late carnations to all of the occupation of the athens polytechnic of 1973 when hundreds of students defied the military dictatorship then ruling greece tanks had to smash through these gates to empty the campus. was beside the gates at the time and remembers the brief taste of freedom. but you don't take part in an uprising to die to take part in order to live and for others to live i remember that even though i was injured and was on a stretcher i really like the smell of the cinches trees that was stronger than

that tear gas. ever since the law has granted universities immunity from police intervention but this year is different the conservative government abolished immunity known as university asylum shortly after it was elected in july it agrees with a large number of students and academics that criminal groups had taken advantage of university asylum and used campuses a safe havens from which to attack the police sell drugs and recruit criminals and that say security experts explains why this is the only greek national holiday that is accompanied by violence we're talking about people who can be characterized as holding guns or could be talking about people who are actually drug dealers and the you have separate small gangs of people who have a leader like and they claim to be on their kids but in reality they operate like a small army with a leadership a deputy leader and so on and they try to make the headlines in order to attract

new recruits violence is far from the minds of most of these marches however it's the political point that matters reminding people. that freedom is never to be taken for granted this is the 46th anniversary of the polytechnic occupation and because that event is still within living memory this anniversary more than other national holidays still attracts greater vigor and vitality it is a vehicle through which greeks express their frustrations most recently with their partners in the eurozone who imposed stiff or sarah the measures upon the national budget which have weakened not only social security measures but also the national defense this couple brought their newborn son we were brought by our parents and we are bringing our children it's important for people to remember that we need to change everything about the society we're living in right now not just here but in the whole world greek society has a long memory of foreign influence the marches paused as they always do outside the

u.s. embassy as a reminder that the 7 year dictatorship survived thanks to support from the nixon administration and collapsible taney asleep with jobs are open al-jazeera english. funny survivors of the worst massacres committed by far cripples during colombia's civil conflict are finally receiving the remains of their loved ones forensic have forensics have now identified the bones of 74 people who were killed when a cylinder bomb the fell on a church in the northeast of the country and the son he reports now from by. these miners have waited a very long time for this day the remains of the victims of the worst massacre committed by 5 rebels during the country's civil conflict are finally back where they belong almost 2 decades later oh oh white coffins for children brown for adults the young there is emiliano policy my father unnecessarily and my

mother and i mean all sin he's my brother many of us while i was waiting for 6 of them were for you for the 1st time i feel some peace because we got our family back it's an important step because they will receive a christian burial but will never forget the pain and time they've left behind a may 2nd 2002 confrontations between 5 gravels and paramilitary forces erupted in the riverside town of book in the western jungle province of. a cylinder bomb blanched by the rebels fell on the church where the community took refuge at least 74 died in what became known as the bohai your massacre nearly everyone here was affected there's not much left of the old city of. the bodies mutilated by the bombs and get up in communal graves and the community fled to the closest city more than 3 hours down river when they came back they found their town at been razed to the ground. eventually

a new town was built not far from the old one but the community remained in a state of suspended grief until the signing of a peace deal with 5 gravels in 2016. then a 2 and a half year long process to identify the remains started with the help of the united nations fark leaders have since asked the community for forgiveness but while the rebels are gone many of the factors that led to the massacre remain in new york you know groups or reorganized or we don't know exactly who they are but certainly criminal groups they are there. he's. just. about. social development and this is the most difficult. residence a fear persists as a remaining rebel groups. and paramilitary gangs vie for control of the region were illegal mining and cocaine trafficking dominate the more. i think.

the people that supported us through it all makes sense only if you make sure it will never happen again for now the community is finally able to begin the process is a healing a wound that had remained open for far too long and listen to. the hour on al-jazeera let's take you to the headlines a victory for pro-democracy protesters in hong kong after the high court ruled a ban on face masks was unconstitutional the decision follows a violent standoff with riot police at a university china's foreign ministry has defended the actions however of the hong kong of these. media i don't know if you've been following closely the developments in hong kong if you haven't if you are viewing the fact was an impartial view you could see that what is happening in hong kong is no longer

a simple demonstration it is a handful of violent criminals conducting violence against the civilians and they have affected social order and safety in hong kong but the police are doing is protecting the citizens lives and safety and keeping order out. of the headlines iran's president says families will start receiving financial assistance on monday that money there will come from a steep rise in petrol prices which have triggered protests around the country at least $2.00 people have been killed since the demonstrations began the town and separatist president on trial in barcelona for disobedience is accused of defying orders made by the spanish electoral authority tensions been high in the region since the jailing of a number of separatist leaders last month. the inauguration ceremonies been held for sri lanka's new president scott the claimed victory after a campaign marked by nationalist rhetoric and promises of better security and he now has the task of lifting the country out of an economic slump made worse by the

easter bombings bolivians are facing food and fuel shortages supporters of the former president evo morales continue to block roads the new interim government says it's created a so-called air bridge to the main city the pas that is military planes delivering supplies morales resigned and fled to mexico after winning an election many believe was actually rigged and haiti's president of an illinois says he is holding talks to form a unity government moyes says his country needs international support after 2 months of anti-government protests made haiti's dire humanitarian situation even worse there is widespread anger of a high inflation crime and allegations of corruption haiti's been without a functioning government since march you're up to date with the headlines on al-jazeera up front with many her son is coming up next. the minister. is to the british on the 31st about to

make this country the greatest place on earth person to. follow the drama the brick sit on al-jazeera has the world forgotten the people of kashmir i'll ask a spokesman for india's b j p government why millions there are still under lockdown ily. ily. ily. ily. i made the house an bolivia's president evo morales was forced to resign from office and fled to mexico after a disputed election and pressure from the military was a coup that sowed debate but 1st the government of india is no stranger to controversy this week it welcomed the supreme court decision authorizing the construction of a hindu temple on the site of a demolished mosque while prime minister nuri in the.