state of wisconsin, where protests continue after police shot a black man who was unarmed. video posted online appears to show jacob blake being shot in the back. he's in a serious condition in a local hospital. president trump has made an unscheduled appearance at the opening day of the republican national convention to claim the democrats are working to steal the us elections in november. he warned, without giving evidence, that democrats planned to rig the contest through fraudulent use of postal voting. scientists in hong kong say they have documented the first confirmed case of re—infection with the coronavirus. researchers say a man who was infected in april tested positive again this month after returning from a trip to spain. now on bbc news, it's hardtalk.

welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. his people have turned against him in the streets, but belarus‘s dictator alexander lu kashenko his security forces are still following his orders. so, where do the anti—lu kashenko activists go from here? well, my guest is natalia kaliada, one of the founders of the belarus free theatre, an artist dissident in exile. will bela rus‘s summer rebellion be blown away with the autumn leaves?

welcome to hardtalk. masses of people, protesters on the streets, but president lukashenko has streets, but president lu kashenko has not streets, but president lukashenko has not blinked or buckled. are you surprised? i'm sure you saw a number of weeks ago, his helicopterfully equipped with a rifle. he presented himself as a complete joke to the world. we need to understand he is and that mental condition, because he has mosi psychopath e. we need to understand what to do with him next, because people are standing up against him. when

you say he made himself a com plete you say he made himself a completejoke, are you say he made himself a complete joke, are you sure the people of belarus is all it that way? the man was holding an automatic rifle. he was talking to his own some charity forces on his straight, heavily armed, determined to repress the protesters. that's not a joke, that's real. that is what is happening. repression is still happening. . that's not a joke. that's real. and that is what is happening. repression is still happening. it was a joke because he didn't have a machine gun in that huge rifle, so i guess he is not ready to understand what's happening around him. repressions are taking place. awful repressions are taking place. and this happened at the first week after the elections.

it was absolutely severe — bloodiest crackdown ever in belarus. we never saw any tortures like that. and in my personal experience ten years ago, when i was injail, i was threatened to be raped. i was put in front of the wall with my face back. and there were dogs, shepherd dogs, on metal chains, barking at me. but at that particular moment, i was likely not to be raped. at this particular time, people have been raped by foreign objects, and they've been cutting slices off their bodies in order to rape people. i have read the amnesty international reporting, i've seen the words of the un special rapporteur on human rights. it is clear that some terrible things have been happening inside belarus's prisons and detention centres. there seems really no doubt about that, according to independent sources. he's still in power. he is still able to repress. and, frankly, looking at what's happening today, he believes he can continue to repress. that will be the question to the world community — why they're allowing, for 26 years, to have that dictator in place,

while european union and uk and the united states, they continue to stay in a very deep political coma, allowing all of it to happen at their borders and not understanding one particular thing — that it's not only already about safety and independence of people of belarus, it's about let's just think about what's happening inside the country itself. are you confident these protests, the older demographic who have been so loyal to this man for so long? people are standing up. the whole of belarus is standing up. it never happened before. isn't the whole of belarus? i see the pictures from the news, the

thousands. i see the pictures from minsk. i see the thousands, tens of thousands of — it has to be said — mostly young people. they're internet—savvy. they're connected. they're educated. is it all of belarus that we're talking about? you know that wonderful slogan that appeared before 396. that exactly reflects on the situation. 97% of the population is standing up against him. 0k, do we want to be realistic? let's go into statistical data and discuss his real numbers, and now we are talking about 8.6, 8.9. this is the only percent that he got, because...we need to understand that itjust didn't happen out of the blue and people went to protest. economy went down — march, april. horrific collapse of economy that never saw belarus before, and then coronavirus happening when lu kashenko is denying the fact of it. and he's calling that a psychosis — and you need to drink vodka, get on tractor and go to sauna. that two factors made

the bela russian population to understand that he is not caring for themselves. you think his handling — or maybe some would say, many would say, his mishandling — of covid—i9 has been a factor in expanding the constituency of protestors? it's gunpowder. it's the gunpowder of the whole situation. coronavirus added to the economic situation, the whole development that went against him. and for people, it became existential crisis. you are an artist. let us not forget that, what,15 years or so ago, you and your husband founded the belarus free theatre? you're very interested about what happens in people's minds when they're confronted with authoritarianism and dictatorship. it's the subject of many of your dramas and plays. what do you think is the impact of the abuses you've just characterised to me? we've heard about the torture in the detention centres —

the violence, the intimidation, the threats. what, right now, do you believe it's doing to the minds of people in belarus? that's the third factor — economy, coronavirus, riot police violence that belarus never saw before. because, before, he killed people in dark times of the day. he kidnapped them and killed them by specific death squadron. those who did it are still in power, and they train the whole new generations of those who started to openly kill and torture people... but... ..these days. right. but i ask you the question because it seems to me it is possible that, over time, weeks and months, this new level of repression that we are seeing, it could intimidate and quell the resistance simply because it is so wearing to live with threat and fear

and the thought of violence over a long period of time. that's why i'm saying, again and again — unfortunately, you need to repeat — that it's happening already for 26 years. but what i'm saying now, we have a very tiny time lock now in order for european union, united states and the uk, of course, if they want to participate in it actively and prove that it's the oldest democracy in the world... ..and not the unprofessional democracy that it's behaving now, and for them to act properly now and start peaceful negotiations about transition of power. we can't have any conversation about lu kashenko's participation in any negotiations. we're not able to discuss a second elections that will be called free and fair with presence of osce

when they will allow lukashenko to participate. no way it's possible — because lu kashenko is falsifying elections for 26 years , eve n in presence of osce. if osce allows him to participate again, we will have a zimbabwe situation, when we'll have 52 and 48 and belarus will lose its future forever. for the pressure to be maintained and for the international community to do what you want them to do... and we'll get to whether they really will do it in a moment, but for all of that to happen, you need the mass street protests to continue. and yet, i wonder whether a little bit of you feels maybe even a sense of guilt about encouraging people to take to the streets when you know better than anybody what the physical, personal impact of facing the violence and the repression can do to yourself and, indeed, your husband,

who i'm very mindful has suffered long—term mental and physical consequences of treatment he suffered in prison in belarus. do you really want more people, including the members of your own theatre group, to go through that now? all of us are making our own choices. we're all adults and we're standing up for our freedoms. nobody is making anyone to go to the streets. if you hear all testimonies of people who are telling that from belarus, and when they are asked that particular question, when they're asked, "are you tired from all those protests?" they say, "no, because i'm staying here for myself "and for the future of my children." that's the situation that we have now in belarus. and that's such a beautiful momentum for our country, when people use nonviolent resistance in order to express how ready they are for changes and how

ready they are for a european way of development. so your husband, nikolai khalezin, who founded the theatre with you, he has said in recent days that what he sees in his home country right now is what he calls more of a hong kong than a traditional east europe style of popular resistance. "by that," he says, "it's leaderless. "we are not looking to specific political leaders "to lead the masses." he says the protests are driven by small, localised groups. but you do need leaders, don't you? and where are the leaders, the real leaders of the opposition in belarus, today? we know that the woman who ran as the main candidate against lukashenko is currently in exile in lithuania, so where are the leaders? that woman's name is svetla na ti kha novs kaya. this is the woman who was running as candidate — as presidential candidate — instead of her husband, who was arrested.

and he was a video blogger. and now he's injail, as are the presidential candidates. and the situation, why she's in exile, is very similar to the situation that i also faced ten years ago. when you are threatened with your children's life and you when you are threatened with a situation, when you are told that your parental rights will be taken from you and your children could be sent to the orphanage. and this is what happened to me and my husband. we were lucky because we already got smuggled out of the country and kgb didn't know about that. and we already had the meeting with hillary clinton and lobbied for targeted economic sanctions. this woman who said, "i'm not a politician, i'm staying here "for freedom and i'm staying here for my husband. "in order when for me to become a president, iwill announce "new presidential elections within six months "and those

people who are now in jail, they will run "for those presidential elections." after those threats, she was driven to lithuania where she is located. now she is recognised as a national leader, already european countries, and lukashenko is recognised not as legitimate president. and that's happening for the first time ever. and yes, nikolai khalezin, my husband, is right in terms of hong kong style, because what is happening now in belarus, this is the best possible way of non—violent resistance. and it's accumulated wisdom of all the revolutions that happen that is now happening in belarus. and people are standing up there for themselves and they understand that now it will be time for their leader to come back to them and start to lead the country. and people have stood up, literally. we saw the pictures of them walking out of the tractor

factory and other workplaces. there have been strikes across the country. but i'm also mindful, reading an article from belarus just the other day, that some of those strikes are now actually ending, because many of the workers, according to one worker in the tractor factory, sergei dylevsky, he says that arrests and threats, threats to sack strikers, replace them with workers coming from russia that lukashenko says he can easily get access to. it has, he says, undermined resolve. and he says, "in my factory, only around 200 men out of 17,000 are actually ready to, quote, go to the end." and lukashenko is getting on tv and he's saying that, oh, we could see only those 20 people who came from the major factories that produce main machinery for the industry in belarus. and that same moment 16,000 of workers got out,

to the streets and said, "we're not 20." but my point is some of those thousands just feel now they have to go back, notjust because of their economic circumstances, their families, but also they see that lukashenko's serious. he's just going to hire russian workers to come in and take theirjobs. that's simply not possible. the economy is that he is not able to support anything but for now, he has money to support a bit. ministry of internal affairs. that's it. russia, of course, has its own interest. and we could see absolutely a specific thing that started to happened on the 15th, 16th and 18th of august when the airplane of russian fsb landed in minsk, having their russian propaganda specialists, having their fsb minister of defence, russian administration and russian government. of course, there is that interference, hybrid

interference that is happening already for the last week, and it's only increased because now presenters of belarussian tv are replaced by russian propaganda. are you not in danger...? but workers can't be replaced. no money for that. no money. but in the broader sense of the politics of this, are you not in danger of playing into lukashenko's hands and maybe into moscow's hands as well? because you've lived in the west for a long time, because of your dissident and your theatre activities. you're now based in london. when you speak out, as you do so passionately, so strongly, and direct your message to the people of belarus, lukashenko says, look, everything that's happening here is the result of the european union meddling in our affairs. western interests manipulating a few belarussians like yourself to try to bring down my government because they want to turn belarus into some sort of puppet state of brussels and the european union.

and you just said it yourself, you want belarus to face towards brussels, not towards moscow. it's absolutely true in terms of belarussians thinking to become a pro—european country. but same time, belarussians are saying that we'll be neutral to russia. they don't say that they want. . .. i don't think moscow is going to regard you saying that, "we want to be a pro—european union country," as neutral. they see belarus still as their strategic space, and you know it. 0h, we know it. of course, that's why there is intervention that is happening by russia. and this is exactly why we have that momentum for the western democracies. start those negotiations between belarus, with participations of belarussians and western negotiations in there in order for lukashenko to step down, not allowing his participation in any elections. and this is the main

thing that has to happen. this is the time when the west needs to really get out of their political corner. but in a sense, then, just look at the words of russian foreign minister sergey lavrov just a few days ago when he said, "what we're hearing now from european capitals, particularly "the baltic states and from poland, is not about alexander "lukashenko, human rights and democracy. "it is actually all about geopolitics." you're sort of saying the same thing. it's a battle between east and west. oh, yeah. it's that historical battle that is happening for years and years. but to give you a wonderful answer to what sergey lavrov said, i will tell you another thing, that it was a wonderful momentum when white, red, white balloons, many of them with a white, red, white flag — that is a symbol of resistance in belarus

to dictatorship — went to the sky of lithuania yesterday, on sunday, and that was the moment when they went, took those balloons to the territory close to belarus, and that particular moment, belarussian ministry of defence put military helicopters into the air to shoot those balloons. and they made an official statement — "we stopped the provocation by the west." so white, red, white balloons with white, red, white flag. that's provocation of the west that's the symbol of freedom that is just flying over air. but again, don't you have to be careful what you wish for? because this could end very badly. you must surely be much more aware than me of what russia has done in the past in georgia, in ukraine, in those countries, in the neighbourhood. former soviet union allies

and members of the soviet space, who, frankly, russia is determined to keep on its side of the ledger. could happen in belarus, too. you could end up with russian forces on your soil. we can't run out of that opportunity, of course, never with russia, never with russia. but we need to understand that putin will never support that the guy who is losing, and lu kashenko lost, he will never do it. but we could have that intervention that is happening softly and that deep integration that might happen very quickly. that's why we say again and again thatjointly, for the first time ever, west need to come up with a very strong plan in order to show to russia who is stronger, who is stronger, democracy

or dictatorship. how do you feel about, for example, eu council president charles micheljust the other day saying that while europe stands by the people of belarus, as he put it, in the end, he said, any resolution of this crisis must be found inside belarus, not in brussels or in moscow. now, that was his way of saying, "there's not much we can actually do here." and eu commissioner on industry or marketing, he said last week that belarus is not part of europe and belarus is located in between europe and russia. this is that knowledge that european union has on belarus, and that's absolutely shameful what is happening. and that's exactly like what borrell said yesterday when it was announced that we will talk to lukashenko. so again and again and again, for 26 years, people of belarus feel betrayed. so the question is, like,

when, for god's sake, european union will wake up and act properly, when european union will show its force. and it looks like dictator is stronger than democracy. that brings me back to the beginning here. lu kashenko hasn't buckled. whatever you say... your husband the other day said, "fundamentally, we will never go back to the way things were." he said a massive transformation is taking place, it's just not clear how long it will take. how can you be so sure of that, given you're not getting what you want from europe? how can you be so sure you're on the winning side? people of belarus made their choice. it's not possible to put back that idea of freedom any more. there is no way back for people. it's not possible for people to continue to live in the country that is led by the person

who they hate, who tortured them, who raped them, who killed their relatives. it's simply no way back. unless he forces out the leaders of the protest movement, people such as yourself. you left 15...well, not 15, but almost a decade ago. ten. yeah, a decade ago. there may be young people in belarus today on the streets who in the end give up, decide they've got to do what you do, and leave. then it will be very simple. europe, open your doors. ten million are coming. are you ready for that? so better get prepared to put the plan in place and act now in order to have peaceful transition of power, or otherwise, ten million belarussians will be part of europe. but i hope they will be part of europe as the youngest democracy in europe, if you act now. natalia kaliada, we have to end there. thank you very much indeed forjoining me on hardtalk.

thank you so much for having me. hello there. last week, storm ellen brought us some very wet and windy weather. this week, we have another named storm. this is storm francis, named by the met office. you can see this hook developing in the cloud structure on the satellite picture. this shows an area of low pressure that is deepening rapidly. it will continue to deepen as it moves across our shores, an unusually deep low for the time of the year bringing some unusually strong winds. with that, some heavy rain. it's a combination that could well cause some disruption.

that rain already setting in for many of us. it will continue to pile northwards through the day. it then slows down across parts of northern england, central and southern scotland, northern ireland, some rain feeding back into wales. these areas could see some localised flooding. and then, we have the winds, which will be strengthening through the day. during the afternoon, quite widely across england and wales, we'll see gusts of 50 to 60 mph, some exposed coasts and hills could see gusts of 70 mph. and that could cause some minor damage, poor travelling conditions. not as windy further north, but with the heavy rain continuing. in aberdeen, with a strong wind off the north sea, the outbreaks of rain, temperatures 13 or 1a degrees. it will not feel too pleasant. 22 degrees down towards the south. all the while, the far north of scotland, the northern isles, will stay dry with sunshine. scotland, the northern isles, through tuesday night, you can see this curl of wet

weather, here's the area of low pressure. still spinning its way through and providing pretty strong winds. the winds slowly easing through the early hours as our area of low—pressure drifts out into the north sea. as our area of low pressure drifts out into the north sea. you can see plenty of white lines, isobars on the chart for wednesday morning. we will still have very gusty conditions across eastern scotland and particularly eastern coastal counties of england. some rain as well. from the west, things will be calming down through the day. the winds will slowly ease, we will see spells of sunshine. it will feel fairly cool, though — temperatures of 13 degrees for aberdeen, 19 for plymouth, 21 in london. some more rain in the forecast for thursday and friday. shouldn't be as windy at the stage. some dry weather in prospect for the weekend. but it is going to feel pretty chilly, with a northerly wind across the uk.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. my name is mike embley. the national guard is deployed to the us state of wisconsin as protests continue over the shooting of another unarmed black man. donald trump receives official republican backing at the party's convention to run for another term as president. in new zealand, the man who killed 51 people at two mosques last year is confronted in court by survivors and relatives of the victims. germany says russia must investigate the suspected poisoning of one of president putin's most outspoken rivals, alexei navalny.