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tv   Our World  BBC News  July 27, 2019 9:30pm-10:00pm BST

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the headlines. more than a thousand people have been arrested in moscow during a protest against the banning of many opposition candidates from local elections, with scuffles as police dispelled protesters. hong kong police have fired tear gas at an unauthorised demonstration. thousands marched through the northern district of yuen long in response to an assault on pro—democracy demonstrators last week. hundreds of people have been rescued from a train in india after it became stranded in monsoon waters near the city of mumbai on friday. nine pregnant women were among them. this man is set to become the first colombian to win the tour de france after he maintained his lead over
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the latest stage. the 22—year—old will be met by huge crowds on the final ride into paris on sunday. now on bbc news, our world. since the election of donald trump, rival groups of far left and far left activists have battled in the streets of some american cities. violence has broken out in new york, berkeley and charlottesville. but perhaps most affected is portland, oregon, a liberal, progressive city in the pacific northwest. mike wendling has been there to meet activists from both sides to try to understand why the violence continues. portland, oregon, in america's pacific north—west. since the election of donald trump, there's been trouble in the streets. chant: usa, usa, usa! the far—right is on the march. see, i get very violent. i'm, like, one of the more
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violent, because i don't like to fight for very long so. they are confronted by home—grown antifascist groups. someone's gotta stop them. they're not going to march in my streets, not in my town. why has this city become a battleground between the far—right and the leftist antifascist movement? i'm mike wendling, and i've come here to find out. i get, "chief outlaw, whose side are you on?" "what are little black girls going to think of you, for protecting white supremacists?" i also want bring together two people from opposing sides. they know each other from across the barricades. when they meet again, on neutral ground, will they talk or will they fight?
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it's a disturbing trend across america — political violence in the streets. new york. berkeley, california. a murder in charlottesville, virginia. but the main battleground is a hipster utopia, the city of portland. right—wing groups come from out of town, proclaiming the right to free speech. chant: usa, usa, usa! as an american, i want to know why extremism is on the rise across my country, and who is invading once peaceful portland and why. i have come 4.5 hours south of the city to this town, called ashland.
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hey, welcome to my town! rob cantrall is a local chapter leader of one of america's newest far—right groups, the proud boys. how are you doing? make it up here ok? yeah, yeah, how about you? right now he is living in his car, along with all his stuff, his favourite companion, marley, and marley's litter box. rob is divorced, with a daughter and grandson. he works at a local marijuana farm. it's humble, it's dirty, it's peaceful and you have not even seen the back yet. although it's illegal in most places in america, in oregon, growing cannabis is tolerated and adults are perfectly free to smoke it. you kind of get an idea of how many plants we have, about 600. freedom is what rob says he is all about. we are trying to save the way of life, freedom and not let it turn
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into some oppressive communation or any kind of —ism. the proud boys is a men's only club. they say they stand for "traditional" values — capitalism, defined gender roles, free speech. they have ten principles. one of them is abolish prisons. end the welfare state — no more welfare. it seems pretty heartless but we can do that by having a more lucrative economy and taking care of each other a little bit more. we just do not want the government to take care of us. but rob's main source of income these days is a government disability allowance. what are some other principles? laughs. let's see, venerate the housewife. i'm sorry but, traditionally speaking, a woman in the home is the best home. the proud boys have been designated a hate group by an anti—extremism organisation in america.
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they deny they are racist or homophobic. they have black members and gay members. what makes them extreme is their violence. one of the tenets is we're never supposed to hit first. people have said that the proud boys have started violence, there's been videos. .. they like violence. ..there have been people arrested. see, i get very violent in fights. i'm, like, one of the more violent because i don't like to fight for very long, and i want to get it done. rob and the proud boys are willing to make the trip into portland again and again. proud boys, are you excited or what? come on, now. they march with other right—wing groups, including patriot prayer. sometimes the rallies result in violence and arrests.
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one man who marched with the far—right committed murder. jeremy christian was extreme, even by their standards. in 2017, christian was shouting racial abuse at two muslim women on a portland train. two men tried to intervene. he stabbed them. when he appeared in court he shouted, "death to the enemies of america, death to antifa". i have come to a quiet working—class neighbourhood, where patriotism is on display. this is the home of one of portland's prominent antifa, short for "antifascist", activists. hey. hello, luis. how are you doing? hi, how are you doing? nice to see you. yeah, good to see you. welcome, come on in. thanks. on a real bad day, i'm probably an anarchist. on a real good day,
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a social democrats. luis enrique marquez grew up in this city, his grandparents were immigrants. he is a comedian and writer and he has lost his patience with american politics. i think it's ridiculous that these group of nativists, white nationalists and right—wingers keep coming to my town and keep bringing their hate to my town. the red sauce is good, it's not as spicy as it smells. the antifascists in portland are a broad mix of left—wing types. luis‘s house is an unofficial activist hub. they need to learn that their violence that they're bringing is not going to be unopposed. it's not going to be just taken and absorbed. it's going to send a hit back to them. these activists say the other side's claim about free speech is a pretence, hiding a fascist agenda. most people in portland
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are repulsed by the far—right. they have already killed two people. lots of innocent people's lives have been disrupted. someone's gotta stop them. they are not going to march in my streets, not in my town. but many also disagree with the antifascist tactics. antifa are not afraid to fight. that's where he challenges me again to fight, "i suggest you never walk the streets of portland again". battles on the streets are mirrored online. and some are deeply personal. luis plays a message from proud boy, rob cantrall. i'm not done with you. ijust started, dog. why don't you bleep let me know when you're going to be walking the streets of portland, you little bleep... this is their first encounter, at a rally two years ago. so if you bleep threaten me, i'm going to take on one of these guys.
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rob argued with an antifa activist. luis tried to separate them. have a good bleep day. he sent you a picture of you and your partner. since then they have slung insults and threats back and forth online. you respond to him there. i said, ijust told him i prefer you suicide. luis gives as good as he gets. there are dozen of proud boy chapters in 37 states, and the uk and canada. their exact numbers are unknown. but there's a sizeable group near portland, in a suburb just over the state line. rob has travelled up for a proud boy party and we've received a last—minute invitation. hello. you guys missed out on all the food. welcome. who do you think you are?
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i'm your daddy. really? they are protecting freedom of speech. to become a member of the brotherhood you have to do the following — first degree, recite a slogan. my name is rob cantrall, i'm a western chauvinist who refuses to apologise for creating the modern world. second degree, name breakfast cereals while getting smacked by fellow proud boys. apple jacks, cinnamon toast, coco pops, frostie flakes... also, promise not to masturbate. and the third degree, brand yourself in solidarity. proud boy. look at that big beautiful, smiling face. loud and proud. rob's fellow proud boys
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show off some ink. they flash ok signs meant to mock left—wingers. and they wear their uniform of choice — a fred perry polo shirt. most of these men are fourth degree members, but they are a bit cagey about exactly what that entails. i know not everybody on the left is bad. fourth degrees are awarded for getting attacked by an antifascist, fighting or getting arrested. not exactly your average drinking club. how many times have you been arrested at these rallies? altogether, 18 times. all at these rallies that have happened in portland? yes. all in portland? yes. tusitala toese, known by his nickname tiny, is originally from american samoa. this is my weekend right here. he's one of the group's leaders.
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his proud boy brothers point to him when they deny they're racist. tiny has been arrested for disorderly conduct, harassment and assault. get off! get off now! don't expletive touch me! you ready? yeah. but he claims that the proud boys are simply standing up for "free speech," and antifascists are the real root of the problem. they're being selfish. not everybody in portland agrees with them and if they're trying to build a community, it's a community of masked ninjas that does not follow the law, that does not want a law. accusations of violence go both ways. when they clash, everyone‘s affected. at the protests, a lot of the times, the police will set up a system
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of barricades to try to keep the protesters separated, or to try to keep it contained to like one area. localjournalist mike bivins covers the right—wing rallies in portland. you know, they mean business. this is where it begins, but it's not where it ends. brawls spill out onto the streets. on october 13, patriot prayer called for a protest in downtown portland. they eventually clashed with some antifascist, left—wi ng protesters, outside of kelly's olympian. yeah, they really started just kind of beating the bleep out of each other once the first punch was thrown. the last time, i didn't even know
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it was going on until somebody ran in and was choking because they had gotten maced, and then all of a sudden, everyone started choking in the bar and then we went on lockdown. portland's democratic mayor tried to pass a law to clamp down on the marches. constitutionally, we cannot prevent people from coming to our city, but we believed there were some pre—emptive steps we could take, limit the rights to firearms, close certain public facilities, require notification, keep different groups separated a reasonable amount of distance so that they could not directly brawl. the law did not pass the council because the lawmakers were worried about restricting free speech. the marches cannot be stopped by the city government, and the antifascists say they will not rely on local police.
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i carry a gun with me at all times and i will say, i really don't like guns, honestly. when i got out of the military, i had gotten rid of every weapon i had... do you have the gun now? of course. as we're on our way to the barber with luis, i see how easily things can escalate. so this is my neighbourhood. it's a working—class neighbourhood that's starting to be re—gentrified, we see with the mcmansion homes that are going on here to the right... but then luis and his comrades see a man nearby, they think he's watching us, they think he's wearing a hoodie showing the logo of a far—right militia. expletive you and your 3%er expletive. what? expletive your 3%er shirt. your militia's hoodie. your militia hoodie. it's not militia. what is it then? yeah, get the expletive out of here!
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what just happened ? that man was wearing a 3%er shirt, whether he wants to admit it publicly or not. that's a militia. the 3%ers stand with patriot prayer, with nativists and nationalists. i don't want them in my neighbourhood. my personal philosophy is that wherever fascism is, i'm going to be there and i'm going to confront it. the fighting isn't confined to the streets, sometimes it comes home. a person ran up to the tree right there and through a rock through my window. you can see it's a double glass — pane glass window here. prior to that, this year, on st patrick's day, my house was firebombed. dog barking. this had hit the window and fallen down to the side of the house, so it was shooting out flames, like i said, about that big. did the police ever find
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who was responsible? i don't call the police. i don't call a group of people that are out to harm me to try and protect me. both the antifascists and the proud boys say the police are too hard on their side, and too soft on the other. for antifa, even talking to the cops can get you cut off from the group. people aren't lining up to co—operate with us. danielle outlaw has been portland's chief of police for less than two years. i get the chief outlaw, who's side are you on? right. what are little black girls going to think of you for protecting white supremacists? we enforce laws but we focus on behaviours, and regardless of which side it is, we still have an obligation to protect and to facilitate first amendment rights to free speech, regardless of what's being said.
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protesters chanting: nazi scum has got to go, hey hey, ho ho! we have convinced rob and luis to exercise their freedom of speech with each other. western culture, western culture... they hate each other but they agree to use words, not fists. i just hope they stick to the bargain. what do you hope might come out of that meeting? is anything going to come out of it? nope. i'm trepidatious. i think he's going to attack me. rob on the other hand isn't sure what to expect. i worry that he's going to say something or i'm going to say something that'sjust going to trigger the other one and it'sjust going to go to hell, you know, he might teach me something, i might teach him something, but i never expect to change someone's mind. so you hope to have a connection with him? yeah, everybody should do that. we're still humans.
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we meet in a cannabis club. they do agree on at least one thing — liberalising america's drug laws is a good idea. i wasn't sure the discussion was going to happen at all — until they both arrived. we've hired security, just in case. rob's cat marley is frisked too. the mood is tense as i read out the rules. number one, no violence. hey luis, would you take off your glasses, dog? i'd feel so much more like i'm interacting with you if i could see your eyes, dogs. excuse me. no. luis won't address rob directly. body language says it all. luis, what do you think of rob? i think he's a bigot, i think he's misogynist, i think he's violent towards women, and i think he's a racist. he's obviously ignorant of who i am. you're not those things?
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well, let's see. you can't be a racist, if you don't subscribe to race. rob, what do you think of luis? i think he's violent on the street. we saw what you did, all right? we — just own up to it. ok, so, luis, respond to that. i'm not the one that's been caught on video camera threatening to punch women in the face. i am more qualified than these peaceful guys to know who — what you're about, because i'm a violent man, you know, and you're a violent man, that's how — i see what you do, you see what i do. ijust, from my own eyes, and from my experience as a violent person, i know that you're a violent person. i show them video clips where they're verbally attacking the other side. you're commie scum. give me a good reason.
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you're commie scum, we're going to burn down your book store. give me a expletive good reason. 0k, we have you recorded that you say you're going to burn down our book store. oh my god! you're the ones that are burning books... well, how is that ever justified, to threaten to burn down a book store? i am sojustified in telling those fools i was going to burn down their book store. it's not illegal, is it? i think burning down a book store is probably illegal. is it? i could get — if i could find a way to do it legally, would you guys all like stop hating on me on that? luis, i'm going to show you this. next, it's luis‘s turn. you come find me! you can find me, expletive! so i'm going to ask you the same question, how is that behaviour justified? that march turned into a personal feud between me and a right—wing journalist, and that in no way is right.
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so that was a misstep? it was in no way correct. it takes a big man to say so. a breakthrough? maybe, but it doesn't last. you've seen the text where he's threatened my girlfriend... threatened her with a good time, that's it, i threatened her with a good time. you've seen the threats. how does this send? proud boys have been told make a video renouncing hate and the proud boys, go away, that's how it ends. you want me to leave my own town? you want us to just walk off a cliff? how do you see this ending? badly. so no meeting of minds, but at least it all went off without a fight, and marley the cat had a good time. hammering.
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luis is back with his fellow antifascists. they wait for nightfall, before dropping their banner on a bridge. portland is a warning about where american politics could lead. one thing is clear — these two groups will keep fighting. hello. thanks forjoining me for this longer range look at the forecast. you don't need me to tell you that the heatwave across the uk has now broken, and our prospects for the coming week are much cooler.
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temperatures 10, 15 degrees down in many areas on last week. quite unsettled and showery as well. for the remainder of this weekend, we have a weather front stretching across the uk. it's not moving in any great hurry, reorientating slightly for sunday. we have a wetter day to come for northern ireland. still some rain across the far south—west of scotland, but overall dryer prospects here, but with the chance of some heavier showers through the afternoon. still pretty wet for parts of the north—west of england, the midlands and the south—east. top temperatures, where we have the rain, around 19, 20 degrees. some decent sunshine for north—east scotland, and south—west england and wales faring very well as well. highs of 22 and 23 here. on we go into monday, and this front drifts its way north. it's this area of low pressure towards the south—west that will more significantly start to come into play for the early part of the new week. quite a deep low, and that's going to mean some fairly strong and gusty winds, particularly for coastal regions of the south—west
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and around the irish sea. we'll see some heavier rain arriving later in the day. elsewhere, actually quite a lot of dry weather, but the remnants of our front bringing more cloud and some showers into scotland at times. a little warmer on monday for some again. temperatures up into the mid 20s. now, once that low starts to approach the south—west, we start to bring in some uncertainty to our forecast as to just exactly how quickly it will move east and how far north it will push, but certainly it looks like it will be with us through tuesday and wednesday, so some fairly frequent showers on the way, i think, for many parts of england and wales on tuesday. some of the heavier rain towards the west, targeting wales, and likely to be accompanied by some thunder and lightning. showers breaking up further north through the course of the day. some heavy ones, courtesy of the remnants of the front, across northern scotland as well. by wednesday, the low‘s become a slightly flabbier affair, so the winds perhaps not such a defining factor, but that will then mean some of the showers don't move on as quickly,
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so we could get some pretty hefty rainfall totals where they break out across england and wales. a few for northern ireland too. scotland looking like it will have a brighter day on wednesday, as the remnants of the front push away. then, towards the end of the week, we are still left with the area of low pressure. it continues to fill, which means it will be weakening, but still some instability, courtesy of that low, potentially bringing some heavier showers across the central swathe of the uk. as we move further towards next weekend, hopefully what we'll tend to see is a little bit of ridging coming into the north of the uk, effectively starting to weaken that low. so, for many spots, the prospect of something a little drier. still some showers around, but not too meaty, shall we say, through the course of friday, saturday and sunday. on into the following week, and it looks like high—pressure could start to win out and, if we get some more settled weather with more sunshine, it could become a little warmer as well. still for the start
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of the following week, though, we have low pressure to the south, so some showers around the following monday, but then hopefully that ridging taking hold as that week progresses. so some wet weather in the short term, drier again the following week, hopefully.
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tonight at ten... boris johnson pledges billions for a new high speed rail link between leeds and manchester. the line, he says, will "turbo charge," the economy across the north of england. we need to inject some pace into this so we can unlock jobs and boost growth. but labour says the plans aren't new, a rehash of old broken tory promises. also tonight. violence flares again in hong kong, as police fire at protestors, with tear gas and rubber bullets. they've asked the demonstrators to leave this area and they haven't. they've already fired tear gas and so street by street, they are coming through. president trump finally gets the cash to extend america's border wall with mexico.

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