different community challenging mainstream misconceptions and hope that by crates and hunting industry sions it doesn't alienate people it doesn't make people feel like i'm not small you must understand this truth is that anyway. george floyd whose last words i can't breathe became a global rallying call for racial justice is being laid to rest. but again i'm just on the attack this is al jazeera live from dar also coming up. outgoing president who clung on to power for 3 terms as times. an armed group loyal to libyan warlord khalifa haftar that tried to stop work in

the country's biggest oil field retreats. and greece signs a maritime deal with its leaf for an exclusive economic zone and while there is tension with turkey over natural resources in the mediterranean. it is now just after 16 g.m.t. and in the coming hours george floyd will be laid to rest his death sparked the biggest anti discrimination protest in the united states since the civil rights era the 8 minutes and 46 seconds a white police officer in minneapolis kept his knee pinned on the neck of mr floyd a black man who was already handcuffed and under arrest for its death sparked weeks of demonstrations across 50 us states and countries around the wild protesters demanded an end to racism and police brutality mr floyd will be buried next to his mother's grave in texas he was 46 years old. on the topic

a name is in minneapolis for us where people are gathering to pay tribute at the site where george floyd dias can be how his is outside the white house but 1st let's go live to john hendren who is at the fountain of praise chance in texas where george floyd's funeral service will be held john that funeral is due to begin rise about now talk us through what the program might and kate. that's right if these buses weren't behind me you would be able to see the door but the reason the buses are there is that the reverend al sharpton was just leading the family members of george floyd into the chamber it is a significant ceremony it's going to last about 3 hours and that's just the official time and there are a number of speakers there will be song readings there will be dignitaries there will be there will be a statement given by joe biden we are told that is being given on video to members

of congress will speak and there will be 3 pastors who speak before the reverend al sharpton gives the eulogy after all of this george floyd's body will be taken to be buried nearby here in houston next to his mother but this is an epic ceremony $500.00 people will be allowed inside that is unusual during the coronavirus era and that doesn't count the hundreds of people thousands of people we're told be filed by just behind me yesterday in order to view the body of george floyd and of course this is been happening at memorials in minneapolis in north carolina where he was born and there are remembrances going on all across the country so it's especially unusual that it happens in this coronavirus era there will be a number of dignitaries inside some of them may be surprised.

it has been growing outside the church as well and talk us through what people a talking about is there that sense of defiance and anger we've been hearing across the country. there's absolutely a sense of defiance it is certainly a somberness among the people who knew george floyd we just spoke to a couple of women who knew him growing up and they said it's tragic that this should happen to such a good man that he was very generous but they also said that is tragic it is that he seemingly died for nothing that something good has come out of this and that is this movement and we expect the reverend al sharpton to urge people to call out for them to continue this movement against young african-americans or african-americans of all ages being mistreated in some cases killed by the police and so there is there is a sense that this is

a tragedy and that it happened for no good reason but that some good is coming out of it when we're hearing people say that it least if george floyd had to die that something might change we're seeing change in police departments across the u.s. there is this movement to defund them you'll hear about that from the taj after me perhaps. but it's a movement that bait to continue going to reverend al sharpton and others call out for that movement to continue even as they celebrate the life of george florida john hendren there for us outside the funeral and we'll be talking to john throughout the day but for now thank you very much john let's now go to natasha she is in minneapolis minnesota natasha your at that very spot where george floyd was killed and people there have came to gather to how are they remembering him today. it's been a. quiet morning but as the morning has progressed the crowd keeps growing i'm

looking at a sign that says rest in power george floyd certainly one of the many signs that resonates particularly today as he's laid to rest i spoke to a woman who says that today yes it's a sad and somber day but she says she has felt so encouraged by what has happened in the several broad radius over the last few weeks she says it has been a unifying experience where people of multiracial multiethnic have come together for an outpouring of grief and anger she says that she would describe this place as a sanctuary and in a literal sign of rebirth someone told me that yesterday right here where you're looking at. someone was baptized but i also spoke to an african-american man who's been coming here every day for the last 2 weeks biking from downtown he says he really needs to be here he says he's been thinking

a lot about george floyd he's a hairstylist that he said george floyd has prompted him to think about what would happen if a customer unbeknownst to him handed him a counterfeit $20.00 bill he said what i end up dead as well. natasha i see that the man has been promising police reform but he's still refusing to commit to defunding the police department as some of the protesters there have been demanding how is that being received by the community. well there are reasons for the community to be frustrated especially when you're talking about someone's life being at risk protesters don't want another. african-american man to die in minneapolis police custody and what they've seen is that despite reforms such as officers wearing body cameras or being trained in deescalation techniques the complaints against the minneapolis police department have only continued to grow in

the last 5 years force was used by the police against african-americans 7 times more frequently than white people so there's still a lot of frustrations that these reforms have not gone far enough now 9 city council members pledged on sunday at a rally that they would disband the minneapolis police department and create what they describe as a public safety system that is part of something they partner with the community but details are a bit slim the city council says though with 9 majority votes they have a veto proof majority as you mentioned the mayor is saying that he supports reform but he does not support the police department this is the start of a conversation a stasia business leaders and residents are starting to ask themselves what would this look like and would a new system and i were just talking earlier would something that replaces a minneapolis police department not suffer from the same type of concerns regarding

systemic and institutionalized racism toward black people and people of color natascha going to aim that for us on the streets of minneapolis thank you very much and. in the white house president donald trump has been tweeting about his popularity ratings well also taking aim at the democratic presidential frontrunner joe biden he's also now suggested that a 75 year old protester who was injured after being shoved by the police could be from and teeth well let's now bring in our white house correspondent can be help that he's in washington d.c. for us kimberly we've been hearing from the president on twitter this morning as usual and it looks like he's very much in campaigning lot already. in campaign mode and you're right one of those tweets really striking a nerve here in the united states many concerned about the president's tone and tenor with regard to the tweet suggesting that one of the protesters in buffalo new

york earlier this week that was pushed down by a police 75 year old man still recovering in hospital that the u.s. president now suggesting that he may have stages for the cameras and that he may be a member of t.v. now the governor of new york state andrew cuomo who is not a particular fan of president donald trump has reacted to this in just the last half hour or so calling the president's comments reckless irresponsible cruel he says of this moment of anger and anguish the if there ever was a moment he feels decency he should apologize for that because it is wholly unacceptable well the u.s. president has for the most part not apologize for that tweet and fact has not apologized for his heavy handed approach to quelling much of the end rest that has occurred around the united states in fact pushing the governors to do more to call in the national guard now the u.s. president does not have anything on his public schedule right now but we do know

that he is planning to try and take his message to the states and he wants to try and bring back his make america great again rallies in fact we know that the campaign is considering a number of options that would involve social distancing many americans restless to get out of their homes after these stay at home orders now it appears the u.s. president is restless himself trying to perhaps counter some of the negative poll numbers he's been experiencing as a result of his handling of coronavirus as well as the social unrest it shows that his the democratic presidential nominee joe biden leading the u.s. president if the election were called today by 10 percentage points can be held at that white house correspondent thank you very much company. well let's talk about this a little more with the assistant professor of political science at howard university in iambic us or she is also the author of american while black african americans immigration and the limits of citizenship dr carson is speaking to us

from washington d.c. thank you for being with us today dr today is very much a day for grieving do you feel that mourning can be reframed here as a way to potentially reenergize the civil rights movement around the conversations the country has been having i mean for sure but i think you know this is been you know an ongoing fight think the rest of the world is finally paying attention in its own ways and the rest of our country is finally paying attention so the civil rights movement has been an ongoing i think that it did in 1960 percent. a struggle throughout i think now this is been a catalyze moment and we will see that just more energy from the more any more energy from the fact that there need to be done to be corrected for any of us to be in this country when you talk about the things that we need to correct and we've obviously seen a lot of protests here pushing for police reform in some cases defunding the police

do these protests give the police further justification to further militarize and it feels very us and then how might the discourse need to be reframed to rather have the police feel that their role is protecting protesters rather than facing off against them. well i mean i think for a long time the police have not necessarily lived up to the promise of protecting you sorry i think actually it was more the police viewing the rest of us civilians as combatants in that as communities that are in need of care now part of that has just been the ways in which we have conducted police say over the last 2030 years where we've seen you know military i mean military sound weaponry being given to local police departments i think that's ridiculous that the military is to protect us from you know foreign and domestic enemies there is no reason that hair l. helicopters and other kinds of long range weapons another thing need to be held

back police departments who are really dealing with merely sort of small skirmishes on a day to day basis i think we think about policing is you know it's always this sort of a life and death kind of situation but that's not the reality and i think we had you there for too long to create a narrative where the police have to always protect themselves but if the police don't see themselves as citizens and don't see themselves as having a role in protecting citizens then everybody's a suspect so i don't think that the protests do anything but howard the brutality. because we've seen the violence that police have been unleashed on on the very quiet public in many cases i mean that quiet in terms of volume but quiet in this if people have been nonviolent if people show up in pepper sprayed in their face right over my back police you talk about people being shoved there let me ask you then to respond to the tweets from donald trump this morning about the protest or

the 75 a protester who was shot i mean there have been very different groups that have participated in the protests some of them more violent than others but one could argue that there hasn't been a huge amount of rhetoric around unity and more yet many more rhetoric around division coming from the white house what's your take. well this is what donald trump ders i mean donald trump has been stoking the fires of division of the way to the white house i mean this is was a tactic for winning 26 you know he did it very well he is a showman he understands his base he understands what they see i mean even as we're having these conversations about defunding the police right that we can reallocate resources to other much needed community resources he's been saying i want law and order so he is clearly not really helping to resolve anything in this particular moment and now obviously all of this is happening within the context of a global pandemic one which the u.s.

is still very much suffering through and george for it himself spent the last few weeks of his life recovering from the coronavirus and just as we've been covering here the pandemic is absolutely laid bare the inequality is in the u.s. there of course and c.d.c. figures american african americans making up 13 percent of the population but i believe 30 percent of cases what impact does this pandemic hadn't inspiring this movement. well i mean i think what the pandemic unfortunately has done is give us an opportunity to slow down and i say unfortunately because it shouldn't take a pay did for us to be paying attention to the loss of life i mean we could go through a litany of names of people who died over the past few years goolies violence or vigilante violence it would actually absolutely be you know appalling probably too many of your viewers but i will say because of the pandemic people have been kept in homes they're watching news more often they're probably getting news that they

probably know paid much attention to and i think they're having to digest this in ways that they had before so it was sort of like a perfect storm moment i mean when you add on that the bigger you quoted black people are 3 times more likely to die from coat 19 and this just on top of all of the just the the that emergency is in this is very right we say relation for all we know that you could look really bad race and you could almost determine that people's lives will be shorter you can look bad zip code and know who is more likely that had asthma and other respiratory illness rates you can look. barry's and see who is more likely to die in childbirth and cold it just exacerbated all of these inequities that we see in american society and because of that the assistant professor for political science at howard university great to get you in science landy here on out of there let's now take you back to the fountain of prayers

church in houston where the funeral of george floyd has literally just start any minute we've seen people come into the church they are the family members of george floyd walked in led by the reverend al sharpton you might be able to see him at the bottom of your screen there and black and white he is expected to be giving the eulogy in a sense we do also expect to hear a video message from democratic presidential hopeful. joe biden joe biden did visit george boyd's family in houston on monday night as well as some other civil rights figures and we will be bringing you much much more of that funeral and the subsequent events here on al-jazeera. not a belgian in a city of and 12 has removed a statue of a colonial era king after it was defaced by anti-racism protesters activists have

long petitioned to remove statues of king leopold the 2nd he was belgian longest serving monarch millions of people were killed under his brutal reign of a modern day democratic republic of congo. and in the u.k. thousands of people have signed 2 new petitions they're calling for the removal of a statue of a british colonialist at oxford university a campaign to remove the stature of sessile rhodes from oriel college has now been underway for several years well we can speak now to our correspondent laurie chalons who is in oxford for us laurie the university has previously insisted that the statue would stay with modifications that i'm quoting here would draw attention to this history and do justice to the complexity of the debate what's the state of that debate now. well the state of the debate here amongst these people who come to protest is that there is no debate are having to speak very quietly as we're in a moment is our. big for the memory to exploited for all people here in the

black large mass movement around the world it's a solemn moment here right now the status of it here is this the people who have covered feel that the time for words is done and the statue of this. incident this talk of the building over there behind me must for. us. they should tear him down that he is on representative of the more values of inclusion and racial diversity this is a man who is an arch imperialist of the 19th century and they say that they've been calling on oriel college to take down the statue for several years now but that we're all college has declined to do so. because of the black cause massive movement because of the way this weekend was in recent days. the campaign to get

rid of the statue of sort of gross has come back to the forefront of political discourse. and we now have a free media folks are currently writing to new orleans college inviting them to make it planning permission to remove the statue but it's the moment at least that stands for real college may well make that decision but they haven't done it yet and i know there was a similar debate about the road stop to our university of cape town in south africa and i know many activists in this conversation offend it's not about not wanting to remember but about not wanting to celebrate these figures and it seems that this may be just part of the beginning of a reevaluation of studies about across the u.k. . well yeah as we've seen in recent days with the protests. and. sitting. around. the. veneration of historical figures like sesame

rice is hugely contentious issue but it has been for some years you have the statue of liberty. in the united states which was the focus for the protests in charlottesville some time ago years ago that led to the death of the protest compare and in bristol just a few days ago there was the statue of a former slave a british slave ever constant there was actually written down and thrown into the river you have a statue of the figures like winston churchill was. defeated over in london a few days ago as well so these historical figures you come from times when race relations were slightly different. very much part of the the going debate the ongoing protests that have flared up again since i was matter

movement flared up again with with the killing of george lloyd challenge that for us in oxford thank you very much for. now let's take you to some other news and burundi's president pierre increases or has died at the age of 55 a government statement says he died of a heart attack on monday he was due to step down from office an organist after the recently held presidential elections in currencies that had been in power since 2005 well our correspondent malcolm webb now joins us on the phone from nairobi from where he's been monitoring all those developments malcolm we've been talking about how young and choruses it was at the age of $55.00 what more have we learned about is death. well the government said he went into hospital on saturday and they say that the cardiac arrest on monday and

then made and that's when he passed away and they just made the announcement just within the last couple of hours by tweeting a scanned statement there's a lot of skepticism already among karelians on social media and elsewhere about the stated cause that. iran currently has wife about 10 days ago denise and community to the 1st lady of the relief through here to nairobi seeking medical treatment for a reason that officially was on this closed but a lot of the local press here in kenya reported that she was suffering from cope with 19 and now there's going to be cool a lot of speculation and guessing from burundi and from the day about this claim that the president has a heart attack it is worth noting that during the the only country in africa that hasn't had any policies to try and limit the spread of kenan the message from the government has been largely one of denial just a few weeks ago president reagan's either himself was out on the campaign trail

supporting the campaign for his chosen successor the presidential candidate for the ruling party in those rallies there were thousands of thousands of people and almost no measures taken to try and stop the spread of the virus. senior executives of the world health organization were victims from the country for criticizing there has been a position from the government very much of denial and also a lack of testing and lack of knowledge of exactly how far the virus is spreading that now can increase the there's always been a very controversial man and he was set to remain very powerful even after the stepping down in august what kind of a legacy does he leave now. the legacies one that's right he was widely criticized certainly any from from outside britain the one of the thing that will bring the inactivity in the opposition would say that in the last 5 years of his

rule the new freedom of the political space has been closed to term in office from 252005 to 2015 it is you know went around then. it caused a lot of unhappiness people took to the streets opposition activists said that was against the constitution he denied that protest too are met with a brutal dryland crackdown and have a sense of being continual suppression of any voices that are critical particularly by the youth wing of the ruling party called the inborn recruit able to much more widely described as a militia being widely accused across the country of political killings executions intimidation extorting money and that's why a lot of rights groups say that the political space in berlin the now almost completely non-existent is under those conditions that byelection took place last month and to indeed the chairs and successor was announced the winner even the

remaining opposition there is rights groups the word they need. commenting from abroad said that this election wasn't free and fair not come whether our correspondent on a late developments for us from nairobi thank you very much neal. now an armed group backing libya's war he for hafter that entered the country's biggest oil field facility and asked employees to stop work has now retreated libya's national oil corporation says the oil field has resumed operations the amount of pipeline running from the sharara oil field reopened on sunday after being closed by find his back in january almost all of libya's oil exports had stopped khalifa haftar his forces seized the fear during an offensive early last year. from tripoli here's our correspondent put up the white head with all the latest developments the current situation now in a. field about 700 kilometers south of the capital tripoli is that the group that

stalled with the oil field and threatened the employees and forces the shah darwin of production has pulled out why because of trade bill mediation like local tribal leader tribal leaders mediated and negotiated with the . group but it seems also that the. group were threatened by this statement issued by the endo see that's the national oil corporation the state oil field the state oil for here in tripoli which threaten to be feared the whole case to the general prosecutor and also threatened that closure of oil fields is impacting the country's economy severely especially. a shot of oil field is the country's biggest oil producing good fielder and

a shot our own good feel oil fields in southern libya are the all the producing oil fields after the blockade of the oil christened in central libya by after us forces now the only group seems to be affiliated to the warlords liefer have to but it's still part of the petroleum facilities guard at the southern the branch of the. petroleum facility got i have to explain this to you that it's complicated and it's confusingly of a lot in the south a little bit the petroleum facilities guard in southern libya shifted allegiance several times over the past 2 years when have to as forces took control of the stars in early 2019 they sided with have to and then after that the siding with the government the national guard now the southern branch is divided between have the g.n.a.t. the group that stormed ultra and pulled out is affiliated warlord khalifa haftar

and now video has emerged in libya that appears to show military officers from the united arab emirates training forces an oil to have. as you can see there they're being trained on a russian made and defense system called the s one russian maton areas have been instrumental in helping have to its forces. well still ahead on al jazeera and al jazeera investigation on corruption in iraq e. agriculture. in mexico is reopening. in cases and doubts we speak to the man at the head of the country's coronavirus response.

we've got quite a bit of rain in the forecast across asia the nation over the next few days that does include the korean peninsula it also includes said japan for this line of cloud and rain down into central and southern parts of china that's the main by you fronts actually and that will of course bring those standard downpours in once again as we go on through quite a stay further north it's moving across the sea a line of thunderstorms gathering they will extend the way across the korean peninsula through the sea of japan facing a good part of japan as we go on through thursday and that could be some localized flooding across the southern half of honshu and on into a queue sheer that we have got the usual showers continuing further south across much of southeast asia little cluster of storms just to the east of the philippines and will bring some increasingly wet weather in here as we go through the next couple of days still rather wet into that eastern side of indonesia still very wet for a good part of thailand more of the same here as we go on through. that we've got the cloud and the rain across eastern parts of india as up was

a northwest an amount about where we are seeing seeing some flooding at the moment i think the showers here will ease as we go through the next couple of days but some big downpours gathering right along the eastern coast. but. examining the impact of today's headlines extraordinary times require extraordinary measures but these should not be at the expense of our privacy setting the agenda for tomorrow's discussions on nodal life that was in these walls and now there is no live in the one global experts in discussion in this democracy why are people not voting international filmmakers and the world class journalists . on i'll just say are.

al-jazeera. ever. had and will watching al-jazeera that's for money about top stories this hour george floyd's cough and has arrived at the fountain of christ church and his hometown of houston where people have been gathering to attend his funeral his death in police custody sparked 2 weeks of pie.