this is bbc news — the headlines: for the third successive sunday, demonstrators have filled the streets of the belarusian capital minsk in their tens of thousands. protesters gathered near the official residence of long—time autocratic president — alexander lu kashenko — insisting that he resign and again accusing him of rigging recent elections. the democratic nominee for the us presidential election —joe biden — has accused donald trump of ‘fanning the flames of hate and division‘ in america. his comments came after the president criticised the mayor of the city of portland for failing to stop three months of violence. the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide has passed the 25 million mark, with more than 840,000 people known to have died from covid—19. india has reported more than 78,000 new cases — that's the world record single—day rise so far during the pandemic.

police have been tackling a number of illegal raves across parts of the uk over the holiday weekend — with one event on the edge of the brecon beacons in wales attended by up to 3,000 people. hundreds of people have also gathered in thetford forest in norfolk — at an event which looks set to continue on monday. west yorkshire police also broke up a street party in harehills, and fined eight people for holding parties around the leeds area. new rules that came into place on friday means organisers of raves could be hit with £10,000 fines earlier our correspondent andy moore explained to my colleague tim willcox how the fines will be imposed. these the fines will be imposed. new finds came into fort on these new finds came into force on friday, announced by the home secretary priti patel. up to £10,000 for people organising these illegal events and west yorkshire police have been very quick off the mark, they have already find eight

people. that full amount, £10,000, and 15 people the lesser amount of £1000 for attending events but despite fines like that and people have been warned, a lot of events as you say going on around the country. one in branwen on the edge of wales, about 3000 people attending that one. these are pictures of an event at, near the ancient fleet mines in thetford forest. that one's being dealt with by norfolk police. up to 500 people in attendance there, you can see some of the vehicles that have been abandoned. up to about 100 vehicles parked illegally on the site. a lot of police resources involved the national police air service, drone unit, dogs, et cetera et cetera. that is the event in norfolk. as you say, expensive. a lot of police resources was looking at the the one in

brecon beacons... yes, that was thousands of people. police are in the process of breaking that up. the noise could be heard 1a miles away and again, a lot of resources involved, least trying to move unlawfully parked cars that are causing problems for local people. the chief constable matt joota problems for local people. the chief constable mattjoota said "we have not seen this sort of event to date" was a bit is totally u na cce pta ble. event to date" was a bit is totally unacceptable. police in london talking about illegal car meets, the tunnel run under the thames, these are legal —— illegal events, do not attend them. now on bbc news it's time for witness history. hello, and welcome to witness history, with me, tanya beckett, here at the royal academy in london. today, we present five extraordinary moments from history as told to us by people who were there. coming up, the british alternative to prison

that was copied around the world. the moment idi amin expelled thousands of ugandan asians in the 1970s. and the artist couple who wrapped germany's reichstag in fabric. but first, we go back to a defining moment in modern chinese history. in 1989, the chinese army opened fire on tens of thousands of students in tiananmen square in the centre of beijing. they had been demonstrating for weeks, demanding greater political freedom. dan wang was one of the protest leaders. this is his account of what happened. newsreel: the noise of gunfire rose from all over the centre of peking. translation: someone called us from a phone box in a street near tiananmen square.

he said the gunmen had opened fire on the students. i've never thought anything like that would happen. i was in shock. the troops have been firing indiscriminately, but still, there are thousands of people on the streets who will not move back. translation: we immediately organised about 200 students to go to tiananmen square to support the others, but all the main roads were blocked by the army lorries. i was in my first year in peking university. i was 20 years old. i play a leading role from the very beginning of the protests. we went onto the streets to demand democracy. although the communist party had tried to reform, it hadn't done enough, and we wanted to pay tribute to the communist party leader,

hu yaobang, who had just died. we students love him deeply, because he was open—minded. i left tiananmen square around noon onjune 3. although we all knew we were surrounded by troops, people were smiling. everyone was so optimistic that we were going to win. 0n the evening ofjune 3, i was in my dormitory in peking university with other students, discussing the future of our protests. tanks and troops are patrolling the streets of central peking after the bloody operation to crush student—led protests. some reports say more than 2,000 civilians were killed in last night's army assault on tiananmen square, held for seven weeks by students demanding greater democracy and an end to corruption.

translation: other student told me i have to hide. they hid me in the other universities and i went on the run for about a month. i didn't have a radio to listen to updates about the crackdown. ididn‘t dare turn on the tv either. after being on the run for a month, i decided to go back to beijing, because i realised that the longer i hid, the more guilty i would look. i didn't want to live like a rat hidden in a tiny room, never coming out for daylight. as soon as i went back to beijing, i was arrested.

i was in prison for nearly a year before i was put on trial. then i was sentenced to four years injail. i even thought i would be executed because i was number one on the chinese government's wanted list. it turned my life upside down. i'd always been a top student and i was a leader in the communist party youth league. who would have thought i would end up in prison, then in exile? the tiananmen square crackdown changed my whole life. otherwise, i would be a poet. the former tiananmen square protest leader dan wang. next, the story behind a legal reform that has changed many lives. in 1972, england and wales became the first countries to pioneer a new alternative to prison. it was called ‘community service'. the scheme was soon copied

around the world. we hear from one of the people in charge of implementing this new sentence for criminals. britain has one of the world's largest prison populations. we maintain 42,000 prisoners in victorian conditions designed for half that number. it costs more than twice as much to send your son to wormwood scrubs as it does to send him to eton. prison sentences, particularly short—term prison sentences, were not effective. about 70% of people who were serving less than 12 months were being reconvicted, so prison in that sense was a failure. some of the younger chaps who are in here, they come in here for small sentences and go out as animals. the great and the good in legal terms began to think we must be able to do something more constructive as an alternative to prison, and community service was at least

a worthwhile experiment to see if we could have some positive results and reduce the level of reoffending. in 1972, the then—home secretary introduced the criminaljustice act, which brought forward community service orders as a new method of reducing the prison population. this was completely new, in fact it was a world first. as an alternative to prison, an offender is given between 40 to 240 hours, it's a penalty, a fine on time, and is expected to do constructive work in the community. i was the senior probation officer responsible for the introduction of community service in one part called nottinghamshire. any sentence in the court is a punishment, i think that's one point we've got to get over very clearly. 0n the other hand, you could use community service as some kind of springboard for rehabilitation. some people have said it's a form of reparation, making up for the damage one has done in the past.

we have people on community service for burglary, for theft, grievous bodily harm, dangerous driving, all kinds of different offences. come on, beth, come on. you can do better than that. we had negotiated a whole series of tasks with voluntary organisations, with public sector organisations, social services, hospitals, youth clubs. the benefits to the community are obvious enough. this church hall has had £3,000 worth of work done by offenders. people who had been in trouble felt valued. they learned new social skills. in that sense, it bore great fruit. sports night at a youth club in nottingham.

the instructor is an ex—boxer and an ex—convict. aged 32, he has spent 20 years inside. he has been convicted of robbery with violence and would be injail again today if he hadn't been given an alternative — 200 hours community service in his spare time. all the times i'd been inside, i knew, no matter what i said — or what i wrote people, that eventually i was going to be in trouble again, but this time, just...i don't think so. we've had more lasting effects in terms of staying out of trouble than those people who've been into prison and didn't have the benefit of a community service order. and it was about a third of the cost of prison. we had lots of visitors from overseas countries wanting to study our legislation. we became the most copied piece of legislation in the western world. but i think these days, politicians talk up punishment because i suspect it gets you votes with members of the public.

the pioneering probation officer, john harding. now, we stay in the 1970s. over in uganda, in east africa, the dictator idi amin was in power and in august 1972, he announced plans to expel the country's asian population. about 60,000 people were given 90 days to leave the country. gita watts tells witness history about her family's traumatic experience. we had 90 days to sort everything out, then get out of the country, and he sort of made an impression that

if we didn't get out on time, we would be sitting on fire. it's estimated there are more than 12,000 towns and villages like this in uganda, and in every one of them, the government is pressing its campaign against the asian traders. the asian community was really close—knit, so all the asian shops went and enrolled together and we all knew each other. each family and all the kids knew each other. we were not well off, but we were comfortable. people started rushing to the embassies and my dad had to sign everything over, that means his assets and his business, over to the ugandan bank. we were given £55 — that's all he was allowed to take with him. it was just unbelievable, you know, after everything that you owned, he was just left with £55. when we first got to the airport, people's luggage was opened out

and clothes and everything thrown everywhere so they can check for gold and money, and for some reason, my parents put a ring on my finger and we were told to get that ring off me, and because the ring was so tight, it was quite a struggle to take it off and my parents tried everything to take this ring off and in the end, it was cut off. the scariest bit was that we had soldiers with guns and knives surrounding. i'm panicking, really, to get this ring off. it was a relief that we actually got on this plane and the plane's taking off and we're safe. and probably for my dad, he was probably thinking he, you know, he got through, he got his family out of the country at last, but he was leaving back something that he really loved, the country that he loved. the asians arrived in cold, wet weather at stansted. whole families had arrived with little cash.

the few belongings they brought often seemed of nothing more than sentimental value. the time of the year that we arrived as well, it was like the wintertime. and that made it worse as well with the rain and the snow, and i'd not seen the snow before. we were... we were scared. because we didn't know where would we go. i mean, we were — and my mum was told that — to take is to leicester, a town called leicester, and we did not know what it was like. we did not know any english. when i grew up and went to secondary school, i came through a lot of, you know, abuse, racial abuse from kids, you know, again calling names and waiting for me outside school and wanting to, like, beat me up and not liking my colour. recently, we just went back to uganda. i just wanted to see the country that i was born in and why my parents love that country so much. it was nice to go back to the hospital where

i was born. it really was an amazing experience. gita watts, who had to begin a new life in britain. remember, you can watch witness history every month on the bbc news channel, or you can catch up on all of ourfilms, along with more than 1,000 radio programmes, in our online archive. just search online for "bbc witness history". next, we go to cuba. in july 1989, four top cuban army officers were sentenced to death and executed after being convicted of drug trafficking. but critics of the regime believe the case was, in fact, a political attempt to punish the officers for advocating change in fidel castro's communist cuba. we hearfrom ileana de la guardia, the daughter of one of the executed men. it was the show trial

that shook havana. general arnaldo 0choa, a comrade in arms of fidel castro and hero of the revolution, was sentenced last friday to be shot by firing squad, along with three other army officers. translation: when they read out that my father, antonio de la guardia, as well as 0choa and the others were all sentenced to death, it came as a massive shock. my father looked over to where i was sitting, but i did not want to start crying. some of the other relatives broke down and cried, but i did not want to show that weakness. maybe it was my way of giving my dad a little hope. my father, antonio de la guardia, was head of a government department

created by fidel castro, tasked with breaking the us blockade on cuba. his job was to smuggle in high—tech equipment from the us. my father was accused of being in contact with drug traffickers. it was said that was the only reason he was executed. but for me, it was all about politics. fidel castro wanted to do away with a group of officers who had different opinions to those of the regime. from about 1985, we began to feel the influence in cuba of the reforms in the soviet union, perestroika. these were issues that were being openly talked about here. my friends and i used to sit

in the garden with my father and talk about how if things were changing in eastern europe, then cuba should change too. i did not imagine that expressing those opinions could mean being arrested and then executed. the trial was filmed every day. it lasted a week and was broadcast each night on tv. it was totally controlled. the accused could only say yes or no. the last time i visited him injail wasjust days before his execution. by then, it was obvious that we were going to lose him. he asked me to look after my younger brothers and my grandparents.

the death sentence was carried out onjuly 13th. the families were informed by telegram. on each anniversary of his death, it is my duty to make sure he is remembered as he really was. what i would like now for my family is for the cuban government to recognise that they committed a great injustice. ileana de la guardia is still in exile in paris. now, to one of europe's most dramatic public art projects. injune 1995, artist christo and jeanne—claude wrapped the former german parliament building, the reichstag, in fabric. more than 5 million people came to see it and it became a symbol for berlin's renewal after the fall of the wall and the collapse of communism. christo tells witness history how they did it.

it's an eccentric dream, but one that a husband—and—wife team have cherished for more than a quarter of a century and this weekend, the bulgarian—born artist christo and his wife jeanne—claude began wrapping the german parliament building in silver fabric. it is very difficult to explain it if you don't see it. no drawings, no sketch and no scale model can match the complexity of the project. the fabric is actually — it is not completely touching the stone, the surface of the structure. the project started in 1972. the cold war is still in full speed. you know, the berlin wall was built. permission to wrap the reichstag was refused three time. if the wall would not fell down, probably will never have do the reichstag. for more than two decades, the artist christo and his wife jeanne—claude have wanted to work with the building that, for them, symbolised the cold war. you know, i was born in bulgaria in 1935, highly sovietic, communist country, and i escaped to the west alone, speaking

only russian and bulgarian. coming from communist country, i had to do something involving the east—west relation. it's been bombed and set on fire, seen war and revolution, but never before has the reichstag been wrapped in silverfabric. we never can believe what is the project until we see the real. christo himself is paying for the project, helped su bsta ntially by sales of his sketches and other work. the reichstag cost us $12 million in 1995, which is was about — probably today is about $20 million or $25 million. it was wrapped by near 100 rock climbers. they come down, installing all this 100,000 square metres of fabric in the matter

of one week. now, jeanne—claude and myself, we are both together artists, you know, and this is why i miss so muchjeanne—claude today. we were partners, we lived together, we fight together, and it's like an adventure that you cannot repeat it. this novel treatment is, they say, in the classic tradition of art. the reichstag was the victorian building with a lot of ornaments or decoration. suddenly, it was changed, like a sketch, like what is essential of the height, the width, the forms, and they are all hidden by this fragile material that moves with the wind, in constant motion. the building took on a shrine—like nature and was treated with something approaching reverence. it's very special and it's — it always changes with the light. the first time in history probably that this building is nice and makes people happy. i came to germany especially to see this project and i think it is great.

oh, i don't know really what the point is! for two weeks, the area has witnessed one continuous party with scenes reminiscent of when the berlin wall came down six years ago. everybody who came to see the project, and there was 5 million people in two weeks in the reichstag, they know that they were seeing something will never happen last night the final and the biggest party, 100,000 people swarming around the building well into the early hours. today, dismantling work began and germany's former and future parliament building came blinking into summer sunshine. then rebuilding starts, ready for the german parliament, arriving in 1998. after two weeks, gone for ever. cannot be repeat. something happened, will stay forever in that particular unique moment. the remarkable artist christo. that's all from witness history this month, here at the royal academy. we'll be back next month with more first—hand accounts of extraordinary moments in history.

but for now, from me and the rest of the witness history team, goodbye. hello. summer warmth has been in short supply over the last few days. in fact, on sunday morning, one very sheltered spot in county down, northern ireland had a temperature just a fraction below freezing. and monday morning is getting off to a rather cool start as well. but a largely dry start to the new week. later in the week, it will turnwetter, windier warmerfor a time before cooler weather returns just in time for the weekend. so we start monday with high pressure in charge of the scene. underneath this area of high

pressure with light winds, temperatures have been dropping away. but it means a mostly dry day. we will see some spells of sunshine and i think quite a lot of cloud will bubble up in the sky and the cloud spreading out and some places will have grey skies by the afternoon. temperature—wise, another disappointing one, 15—18 degrees. the winds will be strengthening towards the north—west. later in the day we will see some cloud and outbreaks of rain pushing into northern ireland, perhaps north west scotland as well. a very weak frontal system trying to push its way in, but elsewhere it stays dry through the night. not quite as chilly although some spots particularly in northern and eastern areas will get down into single digits. so for tuesday, this frontal system will make some progress eastwards, but it's running into high pressure, that'll squeeze a lot of the energy out of a weather front. you can barely see it on tuesday's weather chart. some cloud, some splashes of rain across parts of north—west scotland, maybe northern ireland.

but elsewhere it's looking predominantly dry with some spells of sunshine. temperatures starting to creep upwards a little bit. and then as we move out of tuesday and into wednesday, this next frontal system will have more life about it. so that will bring some slightly heavier and persistent rain and the rain will get further south eastwards less time. although i think east anglia and the south—east of england will probably stay dry for a good part of the day. turning quite windy as well. those are the average wind speeds, we could have gusts of 50mph or more for the northern and western isles of scotland. but with those winds coming up from the south—west, temperatures will be a little bit higher, 17 degrees in glasgow, 20 in london. thursday, likely to be the warmest day of the week. into the weekend, it turns cooler again, but there will be a lot of dry weather.

welcome to bbc news — i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: arrests in belarus as tens of thousands protest in minsk and security forces block off areas to deter demonstrators. today's protest was very different to the protests of previous sundays. as you can see, a lot more police, much tighter security. the police determined to stop this protest. a man is shot dead in the us city of portland — as supporters of president trump clash with supporters of black lives matter. as the total number of coronavirus cases tops 25 million — india sees a record rise in 24 hours. and — checkmate — why a faulty internet connection led to a premature end for the world chess