this is bbc news, i'm aaron safir with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. all: george floyd! tens of thousands march on washington calling for racialjustice and an end to police brutality — and a message from the son of martin luther king jr. so if you are looking for a saviour, get up and find a mirror. we must become the heroes of the history we are making. british scientists are given nearly $9 million to try to find out how long immunity from coronavirus lasts. how a team of filmmakers in newjersey have opened up a drive—in theatre with an important message.

hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. we start in the united states, where thousands of people have taken part in a huge civil rights rally in washington, to demand racial justice and an end to police brutality. it's being held in the same place and exactly 57 years after the reverend martin luther king jr made his famous "i have a dream" speech. it was planned as a response to the death of george floyd and comes after another police shooting of an african american man, jacob blake. our correspondent barbara plett—usher sent this report. in the year of 2020, this is what a march on washington looks like — drawing on the anger and the energy of months of unrest around the country,

now bringing their demands to the doorstep of power, aiming to forge a national movement out of their protests. archive: the lively, heralded and, in some quarters, feared march on washington... they're deliberately connecting their modern—day struggle to the historic civil rights movement, the unprecedented march of 1963 that brought a quarter of a million people to washington with a thunderous roar, demanding jobs and freedom. nearly 60 years later, it's clear that not enough has changed. i'm 33 and this was in my parents‘ time, so it'sjust like, "0k, here we go again," so we're trying to make sure that we don't have to keep reliving this whole thing all over again. i was not born when the first march happened, but i will be part of every movement, if i need to, until i go to my grave, until we get the justice and the equality that we deserve. nojustice, no peace! the summer of discontent was fuelled by the police killing of a black man, george floyd — one name in a long list — an explosion of anger that has

been building for years. organisers believe this is the historical moment to push for concrete change. what is this about? this is about equal treatment for black americans, for them to be treated the same as white people — by the police and in other areas. that's what black lives matter is about. and who would have thought, nearly 60 years after one of the most famous civil rights rallies in us history, they'd be back here again demanding basic rights? i'm marching for george, for breonna, for ahmaud, forjacob. .. not in the same numbers — the pandemic has thinned the crowds — but everyone here can recite the grim roll call of names of those killed or injured by police violence. their family members were the headline speakers, calling this generation to action. how will the history books remember you? what will be your legacy?

will your future generations remember you for your complacency, your inaction? or will they remember you for your empathy, your leadership, your passion? as ini963, the march is pushing for national legislation to reform how america is policed, and to protect their voting rights — building on hard—won victories of the past. we are going to be the generation that dismantles systemic racism once and for all, now and forever! we are going to be the generation that calls a halt to police brutality and gun violence once and for all, now and forever! that this is happening in an election year added urgency to the agenda. again and again, speakers called on protesters to get out and vote. there is hope. the proof of that will come later, maybe much later — whether this is a decisive inflection point in a long struggle, or whether they'll be marching on washington

with the same demands in 50 years time. barbara plett—usher, bbc news, washington. joining me now is bobby seale — co—founder and former chairman of the black panther party. he's in oakland, california. thank you so much forjoining us thank you so much forjoining us here on bbc news. i want to start by going back nearly 60 yea rs start by going back nearly 60 years and talking about the reverend martin luther king jr. . you heard him speaking before you founded the black panthers, what are your memories of him? well yes, i... i was a young man than, i was working the gemini missile programme, i worked for a company called kaiser aerospace and mechanics, i had kaiser aerospace and mechanics, ihada kaiser aerospace and mechanics, i had a greatjob in the engineering department, at the same time! engineering department, at the same time i was enrolled in couege same time i was enrolled in college as an engineering design major but i began to research african—american people's history of struggle. and i heard doctor martin

luther king was coming to oakland, california to speak, i went to that place where they had 6000 people plus inside the auditorium, and doctor martin luther king spoke there. he spoke about how we needed to get —— get jobs spoke about how we needed to get —— getjobs going, connected with our civil rights movement, and he was saying that red companies in the san francisco bay area did not hire any people of colour. he went on to say that the wonder bread company did not hire any people of colour, and he went on to say that we are going to have to boycott them so consistently and profoundly that we want to make wonder bread wonder where the money went. it excited the whole 6000 audience with me as one individual, no organisation oi’ one individual, no organisation or whatever, standing and being very impressed with doctor martin luther king. and of course, the speech in 1963, and the rally there at the time

impressed me. malcolm x also had impressed me because he had left the nation of islam and he was talking about "the ballot 01’ was talking about "the ballot or the bullet" as he phrased it, but in that speech i understood that they were not enough black folks who were politicians in the country. my demographic search across america at that time, while i still had these jobs, showed that there were only 55 black people in the early 1965 who we re people in the early 1965 who were duly elected to any political office anywhere in the whole of the united states of america at that time. so my whole thing, working with these programmes, working with the city government and the war on property —— poverty programmes and such, evolved to a point that i felt that we had the right to vote, in california, but we needed to organise the people and get them registered to vote, and then maybe we could take over some of the city council seats, some of the

cou nty city council seats, some of the county supervisor seats and stuff because this is where all the money and funds were being, tax monies were being, black folks and poor people in oakland and san francisco bay area were not getting their fair equity share. forgive me for interrupting because i, there is so much to talk about and we do not have a lot of time. i want to talk about your role in the political process because then you went into coalition with doctor king, didn't you, to pursue the same goals? that was in 1968, at the beginning, 1968 we did a big rally in oakland auditorium again, following that rally, doctor... reverend abernathy with doctor king called me and askedif with doctor king called me and asked if the black panther party would be willing to work with them. they had 110 organisations scattered across

america in major concentrated areas of the black communities across america, and they wanted to know... i said yes, yes, across america, and they wanted to know... isaid yes, yes, our organisation will work with you. i only had 400 members up and down the coast of california. and at that time, i did coalesce with them and a month or so later they killed doctor king. and i went out and stop the riot in richmond california because i did not believe in riots, i believe in organising people politically to ta ke organising people politically to take over more political seats, so we could get fair shares and equality. and you talk about, you mentioned the assassination of doctor king, and when that happened, you found yourself initially unable to attend his funeral, but then you are able to come out of that come about? it was marlon brando, wright upgraded the rally, marlon brando contacted me before doctor king was killed, —— right after i

attended the rally. right after doctor king was killed, marlon brando came up to oakland and spent a few days with us and i had to go to court, and all that kind of stuff. my point is, i needed to go up there and call up marlon brando and he financed me and my six, seven, eight, other people to go to doctor king's funeral in atla nta, doctor king's funeral in atlanta, i did go that, and met marlon brando and james baldwin and tony fran ciano and some other actors, and others, and we went over to the main hotel where doctor king's other people were at, and all i met all these movie stars, sidney poitier, harry belafonte, sammy davisjunior, poitier, harry belafonte, sammy davis junior, eartha poitier, harry belafonte, sammy davisjunior, eartha kit, iwas flabbergasted because some of these people were my movie heroes, you know. and all of us we re heroes, you know. and all of us were there and from there i

worked to help the poor people's march, following doctor king's death with doctor reverend abernathy, i packed the oakland auditorium for that programme because i agreed to work with them, for the poor people's march, two protest for greater economic rights connected with our civil rights. that is your connection with doctor king and your relationship with him but you area relationship with him but you are a founder of the black panthers and that is an organisation that had its run—ins with the law, had controversy surrounding it, there was violence at times. i wonder now, looking back, if you feel you went down the right path in trying to achieve what you wanted ? right path in trying to achieve what you wanted? 0h sure. what idid was what you wanted? 0h sure. what i did was so i could capture the imagination of the people in the community. i decided to patrol the police, we had rampant police brutality throughout america and throughout america and throughout the san francisco bay area. so we went out and we

went to patrol and observe the police, but what i did is since huey newton was in law school, i insisted to him that he would research every law connected with guns and the bill of rights, and specifically the bill of rights, the second amendment, the first amendment, the eighth amendment and the fourth amendment of the us constitution. and that is what we did, and so we knew every law, we were very well worst, i knew my african and african—american history backwards and forwards and sideways, and when the cops said you had no right to observe us, we said no, california supreme court says that every citizen has the right to observe a police officer carrying out their duty as long as a particular distance away, which was eight to ten feet, and will observe you whether they liked it or not, and it lou the policeman‘s mind, and the people standing by, it blew their mind, that here were some guys by, it blew their mind, that here were some guys with their guns, not pointing them but

holding them properly because i had trained and was ex— military, and i knew how to hold a weapon, the cop said is that downloaded, we said if we know it is loaded it is good enough. and the idea of us standing there, residing california state supreme court ruling, the law, to the cop, is what excited the people. —— reciting. and that spread all over the community, that bobby seale and his friend huey newton seale and his friend huey n ewto n we re seale and his friend huey newton were out patrolling police. we not —— we did not patrol every day, at this time i was working for the city government of oakland, california. i went on patrol police seven times in a six—month period. that led us to california state legislature, we lead a delegation into the legislature because they were trying to make a law to stop us patrolling cops. so we were very legal in patrolling the police. forgive me i am going tojump in once more because as

isaid, tojump in once more because as i said, there is so much we wa nt to i said, there is so much we want to talk about and your experience of this. back then it was called the civil rights movement, now we talk about black lives matter, and we have seen black lives matter, and we have seen today and over the last few months, protests over the deaths of so many african—americans at deaths of so many african—america ns at the deaths of so many african—americans at the hands of the authorities. when you started out back then, did you think you would still be seeing these kind of things now, did you think it would be 60 years almost and still these kind of deaths happening? well, what happened is, istarted deaths happening? well, what happened is, i started out, deaths happening? well, what happened is, istarted out, i believed that we would get more politicians, because when i first did that demographic surge in 1955 there were only 55 black folks duly elected to political office anywhere in the us. and it did again to, it began in berkely california, around that time, that i started the party, became city councillor, berkely city council, and later became a us congressman. and then black

people began to get elected to political offices all over the country. and then, itjust grew toa country. and then, itjust grew to a point where i put an organisation across this country organisation across this cou ntry after organisation across this country after doctor king was killed of 5000 people in 49 chapters, branches and offices, ncff offices, and i am just saying, that is what kind of shook up the power structure because we were political. we did runfor because we were political. we did run for political office, to get our feet wet in the political scene in 1968. elections were at that time. so yes, i was, i elections were at that time. so yes, iwas, i had a dream in my head and in my heart, mind and soul, that someday we were going to be involved in that, but not alone as a separate organisation. i believe in coalition politics. so i not only had coalition with doctor

king's organisation, i had coalition with the naacp, i had coalitions with urban league and so on, these black community organisations across the country. ultimately, numerous organisations involved andi numerous organisations involved and i wound up having coalitions with some 39 different organisational groups in this country, black, white, blue—collar asian, et cetera. and i moved the phrase from black power to people power, power to the people. black power to people power, power to the peoplelj black power to people power, power to the people. ijust wa nt to power to the people. ijust want to stay while we're on the topic of politics and and voting, what is your message then for people who are involved in these protests when it comes to voting, how important do you think it is now the people vote? extremely important. and it's important, again, politically.

ci started out for political electoral empowerment and now we have proper political frameworks. we have over 20,000 black votes and people of colour elected to office throughout the whole of the united states of america, and dr king, and even malcolm in his indirect way was concerned with that but more importantly, here we are, i am 80 something yea rs of here we are, i am 80 something years of age, i am very active, alive and active, i am happy to see the black labs movement, i'd love it be —— the black lives movement. it was the biggest protest movement in the history of united states of america, numerically speaking. over 10 million people, black, white, blue, green, yellow, polkadot, but lack lives matter

put that together for two to three weeks and that in itself is the basis of my concept of more power to the people, black people who have been at the forefront, since the days of slavery after slavery et cetera, struggling for constitutional, democratic, civil human rights and that, to me, iwas civil human rights and that, to me, i wasjust civil human rights and that, to me, i was just flabbergasted and loved it. i still have programmes that i am working on because i'm an old builder and architect way before i was in the air force and before i worked the gemini missal programme, and i'm talking about working to get the selection past and get the democrats and biden and everybody in again so we can straighten out not only the pandemic situation and deal with that, but the infrastructure ecology, everything is all

interconnected and interrelated to the black lives matter movement, to other people's progressive protest movements, to our political politicians and those are progressive politicians that we need and we need more of them. this is what's happening. the programme that i wrote up in october 1966, i've put this declaration of independence in the first two paragraphs, the first two paragraphs of the declaration of independence, and the second pa rt of independence, and the second part says, when a long train of abuses pursues a design to reduce a people under absolute despotism, then it is the right of the people to alter or change that government with new politicians for their future security and happiness. in the black lives matter movement and the protests is the foundation

of that direction that we must continue to take greater human liberation. it is fascinating to see you draw those lines between your activism back then and what's going on now, we are very grateful for your time and sharing your experience with us on bbc news. thank you. don't forget, there's lots more all on bbc news website, background to this story copy of course you can download the bbc news app for your tablet or your smartphone. understanding how our immune systems respond to the coronavirus, could be one of the key factors in getting all our lives back to normal. british scientists have been given £6.5 million — that's nearly $8.7 million, to try and answer some of the big outstanding questions about the body's immune response. our science correspondent rebecca morelle, has been finding out more. our bodies have become a battle ground, fighting a virus we've never seen before.

and to stop covid—19's spread, scientists need to know, how does the immune system work? our immune system has a host of weapons to attack the coronavirus. crucial neutralising antibodies block it from entering our cells. if any virus does sneak in, killer t—cells will hunt down and destroy the virus—infected cells. this targeted response takes about a week to start and, if it works, you get better. after that, though, the specialist cells start to disappear. but our immune system remembers the virus, so, if it comes back, it will spring into action much more quickly. the question is, though, how long this immune memory lasts. so, can you get coronavirus twice? this week, hong kong reported the world's first documented case of reinfection.

the second bout of covid happened four months after the first, but it was symptom—free. when people talk about immunity, it doesn't always mean that you can't get reinfected, it means that, even if you get reinfected, you're going to control it better. i think it's scary for people to hear, "oh, immunity is lost," and that's not what that study says to me. other infections may also leave behind some immune memory. t—cells from the common cold could be important when people get covid—19. if you've encountered a similar virus in the recent past, for example, the common cold coronaviruses, you might have some immune memory that is able to then cross—recognise covid—19. so as soon as you come in contact with the covid—19 virus, your immune memory springs straight into action, because it's had that recent education, that recent lesson from a similar virus. why is the immune response important for vaccines?

because a vaccine must produce the same, or an even better immune response than an actual infection. early results are encouraging. the vaccines do appear to be protective against severe disease in all of the animal models that have been looked at for all the vaccines that are currently now moving into phase three, or phase two trials. so there is nothing surprising so far about how these vaccines are working. they are inducing exactly the kind of responses we would expect. there are still many mysteries about immunity. but research is moving rapidly and scientists hope to have more answers soon. rebecca morelle, bbc news. now, a trip to the movies is a summer rite of passage for many people in america. and this season, it feels more important than ever. amid the national unrest over police violence, a team of film makers in newjersey opened up a drive—in theatre, showing mostly movies by black film—makers. the newark moonlight pop—up

drive—in opened in july, operated by film—maker ayanna stafford—morris and her husband, siree morris. business is booming. it's being described as the happening weekend spot in newark. the response has been phenomenal. it's been an overwhelming success. everybody who comes here, we know whether or not they like it if they honk at the end. at the end of the film, when they leave, they give us a large honk, then we know we did well. on the night we visited the drive—in, it was showing the critically acclaimed horrorfilm us from black film—maker jordan peele. typically, drive—ins — enjoying a renaissance in america right now as a result of the pandemic — show films featuring white protagonists. the newark moonlight cinema is offering audiences something distinctly different — movies highlighting the works of african—american film—makers. you know, during the pandemic, we've seen racial tension really bubble in this country, and it was kind of depressing to see the constant news cycle of people being hurt, black people being hurt by police officers, so i wanted to be able to create an opportunity for black people to see themselves in a positive light and have a more positive

imagery of themselves. among the movie—goers at the drive—in was malik jones. we need something to just culturally focus on us, so the time is now. in a time when, you know, we're having the black lives matter thing going on, where we need to see us in a good light versus us being victimized and anything, so i think we should start seeing the entertainment side. you know, like, "hey, y'all, come on out, enjoy some black films by black people, for us, by us." you understand what i'm saying? what's happening at the newark moonlight cinema here in newjersey is part of a growing trend in the us of african—americans gaining control of their narrative, making sure their stories get told and seen on their terms, and it's definitely catering to a growing thirst for black content. absolutely. black content is american content. and based on our numbers and the diverse crowd we have seen, we have seen that there is a big support for that. seeing the death of george floyd, that gave us more inspiration to try

and create something that everybody can have a good time and enjoy themselves with. and that is perhaps what is most powerful with this pop—up drive—in — the sheer, unadulterated joy it is bringing to the city of newark in the midst of one of the most miserable summers in american history. tom brook, bbc news, newark, newjersey. they look like they are having fun, don't they? you can reach me on twitter — i'm @aaronsafir. hello there. you could see the rain coming on friday, but it was very difficult to get out of the way. this weekend, though, the weather is set to change. for a start, it's going to be a much drier weekend. however, it's not going to be very warm at all.

some particularly cold nights, and we're going to start with some strong winds as well. a northerly wind as our area of low pressure takes most of the rain away towards the southeast and gets pushed away slowly by that high pressure coming in from the west. by the time we get to the morning, there still could be a few showers down the eastern side of england, and there's the threat of cloud coming back in off the north sea to bring some rain in during the afternoon. elsewhere, some spells of sunshine. there will be a few showers notably across northern parts of scotland. there will be a northerly wind as well. it's always going to be stronger where we're more likely to have that rain. could be gusting 50 mph or so. it will make it feel cold, of course. temperatures typically 13 to 17 degrees, a touch warmer than that, maybe, towards the south of wales and the southwest of england. many places will turn dry during the evening. that wetter weather gets pushed into the east midlands towards the southeast of england and east anglia.

that'll keep the temperatures up here, but elsewhere with clear skies, lighter winds, we could see temperatures even as low as two or three degrees in some rural areas. so a chilly start to sunday. by this stage, the winds won't be as strong. there'll be some cloud across east anglia and the southeast. any early showers should move away, keep the odd shower coming into the northwest of scotland, even one or two for northern ireland. otherwise, some sunshine at times, more cloud around during the afternoon. those temperatures not changing much, but it won't feel as cold as it's not going to be as windy. that's because that area of high pressure is pushing across the country. eventually, it'll be followed by this weather front to bring some rain into northern ireland. that's a very slow process. for the late summer bank holiday last year, it was the hottest ever. temperatures reached 33 degrees in the sunshine. this time around, it could be the coldest bank holiday monday ever, with 18 the expected high in london. again, the winds will be light. they're starting to turn to more of a southerly direction. sunny start, cold start, but more cloud filling in through the day. probably dryjust about everywhere. some rain into northern ireland later on in the day. but those temperatures again struggling, typically only 16 or 17.

this is bbc news, the headlines: thousands of protesters have gathered in washington dc to protest for justice and racial equality. the protest was called on the anniversary of the civil rights march on washington in 1963, when martin luther king delivered his historic "i have a dream" speech. british scientists are given nearly $9 million to try to find out how long immunity from coronavirus lasts. they believe that understanding how our immune systems respond to the coronavirus could be one of the key factors in getting