but his finance minister rishi sunak has sought to reassure the city of london that the post—brexit trade deal will not damage the financial services industry. a mass coronavirus vaccination campaign is underway in the european union. the new covid variant caused several countries to begin inoculations a day ahead of the planned rollout. millions of americans have temporarily lost their unemployment benefits after president trump refused to sign the covid economic relief bill into law. president—electjoe biden has warned of devastating consequences if the bill remains unsigned. now on bbc news... the killing of george floyd, caught on camera by eyewitnesses, has led to an outpouring of anger in america. but what happens when the cameras are turned off — or if there are no cameras at all? our world tells the stories of witnesses to police brutality who say they've been intimidated and even threatened

with incarceration. what chance is there of lasting change if witnesses are scared to speak out? george floyd is the face of thousands that have gone before him. he is the straw that broke the camel's back. after the brutal police killing of george floyd, protests erupted across america and the world. nojustice, no peace! i can't breathe, please, your knee in my neck, i can't breathe. a video shot by a passerby has changed the way many people view officers‘ treatment of black people in the us. george floyd! say his name! but when the cameras are turned off, what happens to the witnesses? witnesses are intimidated. they are fearful that they will be targeted if they come out and testify against a police officer.

this film tells the story of the people who have witnessed police brutality... ijust seen the cops kill somebody. i didn't know what was going to happen to me next. ..and how the police can turn against them. one was coming at me with the gun in my face. i was scared, i was terrified. independence day in 2016 in baton rouge, louisiana. it had been a busy day for store owner abdullah muflahi and his friend and colleague, alton stirling. first time i met alton was when i first came down here from detroit. he was selling cds at the store i first started working at.

he is the one who actually welcomed me to baton rouge and told me if i needed help with anything, to actually ask him. this is actually where he usually set up, was right here. now, 37—year—old alton was selling cds from a table outside abdullah‘s shop. he loved it out here, he knew everybody and everybody knew him. but around midnight, someone had called the police on alton, for allegedly threatening a homeless man with a gun. excuse me, man, can you put your hands on the car real quick? stop, stop. what you're talking about? put your hands on the car. don't move brother, stop. what did i did, sir, what i did? don't bleep move or i'll shoot bleep your ass! put your hands on the car i will shoot you too, in the bleep head, do you understand me? i ran outside, i saw the police tackling and tailoring him

and fighting with him. tase his ass. get on the ground! it didn't seem like what they were doing was right. they were escalating the problem rather than deescalating it. just clicked in my head, hey, pull your phone out and record. you move, i bleep swear to god. gunshots. get on the ground! gunshots. i was only, like, maybe a couple of feet away from him when all of that happened. it was very shocking, felt like it was a nightmare. oh my god, stop, everybody stop! the two police officers realised abdullah had been standing right next to them. detain him. for what?

you were out here, you witnessed everything, so we're gonna detain you. damn, man. put him in the car. i was still in shock, i still didn't know what was going on. i just saw the cops kill somebody, i didn't know what was going to happen to me next. they were treating me as if i was the suspect, as the criminal. the police took away his phone and locked him in the hot car for more than four hours, even refusing him access to a bathroom. the windows were closed. i kept telling them it's hot, can i stand outside, can i go back in the store? they wouldn't let me do anything. while he was locked in the car, police went into his store and took his entire surveillance system. but they didn't realise that abdullah had been recording too. i was scared to tell anybody i had any kind of footage. i was scared i would, you know, they would come after me or take it.

i kept it a secret the whole time. i was scared that i even had it on my phone until i went and talked tojoel porter, my lawyer. i immediately understood the significance, the importance of this footage. i did not trust local law enforcement with this footage. i did not want it to be tampered with, i did not want it to be destroyed. i felt like i had an obligation to release it to the public. footage from the night lit a fire under a community enraged about police killing another black man. joel porter is acting on behalf of abdullah in a suit against the police. they illegally detained him,

placed him withoutjustification in the back of a police car, they prevented him from contacting his attorney, confiscated his surveillance equipment. they would not allow him to go to the bathroom. the police behaviour towards mr muflahi was despicable. i think that their actions were intended to intimidate him. two other witnesses were also detained by the police that night. they have never come forward, and despite a federal investigation into the shooting, no officers have ever been charged. baton rouge police department told the bbc that while they couldn't comment on mr muflahi's case due to ongoing civil action, "significant advancements" have been made in training and policy. last year, the officer who shot alton sterling agreed to leave the force.

i wanted to find out how often witnesses refuse to come forward, and why. there are no official figures, but i have spoken to lawyers representing victims across the country, and they have all told me that the problem is widespread. lee merritt is a lawyer acting on some of the most prominent civil rights cases in america, including that of george floyd. we live in the deadliest police culture in the modern world. there is no nation that kills and incarcerates so many of its citizens, and we see violence and incarceration as a response to holding police officers accountable. so you yourself as a civil rights lawyer, you and your team finds it difficult to get witnesses to come out and speak? it is extremely difficult to get the community to participate in holding officers accountable when they know there are very few protections to keep them from receiving repercussions.

although it is rare to find people willing to speak out, one man in baton rouge has made it his mission to protect the community by keeping an eye on the police. radio chatter. ijust listen to itjust in case i pick something up, you know. arthur reed, better known as silky slim, is a community activist. he listens on police scanners for incidents which might turn deadly. i listen to it all day, as much as i can. i think, late at night, um, 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, i listen for that, that one call. let's see what we can get. he and a small team go out each

night to film responses to 911 calls in the area. in the last five years, they have caught two police killings on camera, and the aftermath of a third. but it can be risky. i get out of my car, i take my camera and i hold it up and i started filming. and the police draws his gun and says "what is that you got pointed at me?" i said, "this is my camera and it is not pointed at you." "i can't tell from here, put your hands up!" so i could have lost my life then and there. and he knew that it was a phone, but he also knew that he could have shot and said that he thought it was a gun and ijust would have been dead. move back. it's a threat that silky is uniquely placed to handle. bleep. before he turned his life around, silky was involved in gangs, drugs and serious crime. but since he started filming,

silky says he now gets more attention from police, regularly facing traffic stops, searches and fines. i get stopped more, i get harassed more now than when i was a gang leader. right now, anywhere they see me, they figure, oh, we gonna stop him. they make their threats, "we just want you to know, "we can catch you at any time." baton rouge police department told the bbc that they are committed to building trust and legitimacy in the community, and they are actively listening to residents. radio chatter. reporter: the seventh consecutive day of protests against police brutality in new york city... witnessing the killing of any human being is harrowing. it is even worse when it is a loved one. but when the killers are law enforcement officers, seeking accountability can

have serious consequences. more common than people understand is the threat of incarceration. that if you speak out on this case, it is going to cause us to look at your taxes, or look at, you know, your last dui warrant or any number of things where we allow the state to. ..criminalise witnesses. and there's no protection. criminalisation is just whatjessica clouatre says is happening to her, since she witnessed the killing of her boyfriend, josef richardson. in july last year, they were living in a motel in port allen, next door to baton rouge. it was just a small room, we were actually waiting on our apartment so we were just staying there until the 1st.

unknown to them, josef was being watched by the sheriff's office. i was laying in the bed watching a video, and josef had just got out of the shower, standing by the bathroom mirror, and all of a sudden i heard "west baton rouge "sheriff's office, put your hands up," so i immediately turned up and sat up in bed and put my hands up, and made eye contact with the officer, and joe turned around and he walked up a little bit, hejust walked up like an inch and put his hands up, and one of the officers immediately grabbed josef. the officer grabbed joe's hand and he bent it really, really hard when he was taking him down, and i seejoe go to the ground. i see them standing over joe, and the gun go off at that time, and... hold on.

and then, um, soon as the gun goes off onjoe... one was coming at me with the gun in my face, and he immediately grabbed me, and he took me out of the room. i didn't know what to feel. i was scared, i was terrified, and what did ijust see? you know, what did i witness? ijust thought it was going to be my last day too as well, you know? josef had been shot in the back of the neck. three internal investigations following his killing ruled that the officer had acted lawfully. they said there was resistance after a struggle, as well as a suspected gun. butjosef‘s family are taking civil action against the sheriff's

office for wrongful death. so we have an unarmed black man, half naked, killed in a motel room. jessica said he was in the process of complying, the process of getting on his knees and putting his hands up behind the head. if you were to do that, if i were to get out this chair, get on my knees, and begin to comply like that, which part of my body is exposed? it would be this point right here. which shows that they are lying about the events. the sheriff's department of west baton rouge say that they conducted the raid because josef was dealing drugs from the room. the report says they found marijuana, methamphetamines, cocaine and two digital scales. no gun was ever found. jessica, after being a witness to this, she was arrested. she was charged with the drugs that were found in the room, even though

based on their own investigation intojosef, that he was the alleged target of this investigation, but they threw everything that was in there on her. jessica spent four days in custody and was charged with possession with intent to supply the drugs found. you know, ijust witnessed my boyfriends death and murder, and i was like... like, what am i here for? you know, like, what did i do? you are the criminal. jessica is campaigning to get justice forjosef. but the charges have left her in limbo. what kind of life can i have with these kind of charges on me? i can't go to get a good job, i can't go to work, it is not good for those kind of charges

to be on you. jessica also feels she is being targeted on the streets. just weeks after the killing, police stopped her while she was being driven home. she is covering herface because she is worried the police will recognise her. we were actually right here. where the black car is. the driver immediately pulled over and a police officer rushed to the side of the car that i was on, and opened up the door, and he said that he was pulling us over because of the taillight, but it didn't make sense that he ran on my side of the door instead of the driver side. things then became more serious. i went to go get my cigarettes out of the car and then the officer holded up a white bag with a white substance in it, a small white bag, and he asked me, was that for me?

and i said no. if it ain't yours... it's hers. inaudible. jessica says she doesn't know who the drugs belonged to, but the driver eventually took responsibility. she was let go. as i was walking away, the officer looked at me and he said "jessica," he said, "the only reason why you're not "going to jail with me today is because he took full "responsibility for the drugs that were found in the car." why would he tell me something like that? i think they were trying to take me down because of the crime they committed. since being arrested, jessica says she sees the police everywhere. every time i go in port allen, you would see the police. sometimes they'll end up popping up to, like, three different locations where i was at. and so that is what really made me say that, you know, i have to really be careful.

you know, ijust don't feel safe anymore. jessica will plead not guilty to the drugs charges next month. she is suing the police for false arrest and intimidation. josef‘s family are also suing for wrongful death. west baton rouge sheriff's office says they could not comment because of the ongoing litigation. oh, man. even children can be treated as criminals rather than witnesses of police brutality. just outside new orleans, in march this year, 14—year—old tre'mall, on the right, and 16—year—old nijel, had grabbed a lift to a family party, unaware that car had been stolen. two cop cars up behind us

they turned on the sirens, they turned around, and started going down the street. deputies from the jefferson parish sheriff's office gave chase before the car suddenly stopped. next thing you know, the tyres are flat. the driver got out and everyone else got out and the driver was like, "just run." the driver disappeared into the night, while nijel hid under a shed. but tre'mall was too slow, and was caught. i see tre'mall on the ground, and the police told him to get on the ground, he got on the ground. one had his knee on my back, and on my arms, and they were like, "where your friend at, where he at, where he at?" i'm like, i don't know, i don't know! and that's when, after that, everything kinda went black. next thing you know i heard a gunshot, boom, and i heard tre'mall scream, scream for his life. nijel was the only witness to the shooting.

scared for his life, the 16—year—old called out to surrender. he says the police beat him up. and theyjust dragged me from under there, and the next thing you knew ijust pick my head up and i see a big old boot, a big old boot just came into my eye. tre'mall survived, but the boys were arrested. it was left to the hospital to tell tre'mall‘s mum about the shooting. when she arrived, officers prevented herfrom seeing her son. there was a deputy and there was a detective there. not once did either the detective or the deputy open their mouth and say "well, ms mcgee, this "is what happened." they allowed me to leave the hospital assuming my child just got shot on the streets by anybody. it took three months for the sheriff to even confirm one of his deputies

had indeed shot her son. six months on, she is still waiting for answers. but despite the risks, tiffany is determined to speak out. they don't want me to keep talking. they didn't expect me to talk in the first place, they didn't expect me to ask no questions. theyjust expected for me to sit back and say, oh, well, another black kid get shot. no, this ends today. and it's going to end with me. jefferson parish sheriff's office did not respond to our requests for comment. public opinion about policing in america does seem to be shifting in the wake of george floyd's death. i put it to lee merritt that in the context of people being killed, witness tampering might seem less pressing.

i think it is a huge deal, because it's how they get away with the murder. right? we put law enforcement officers on a pedestal, these righteous warriors that somehow have to kill people sometimes to protect us all. that narrative is simply not not true, it has been exposed now since the murder of george floyd and the uprising you have seen come out of it. whatever the impact of those protests, until more witnesses feel confident speaking out against police, many more deaths are likely to go unchallenged.

a large swathe of the uk was battered by storm bella over the weekend and in the days ahead we replace the warnings for wind and rain with those for ice and snow as its active frontal system cleared south and east through sunday, it left cold air across the uk and that cold air we keep as we enter 2020 and move into the early part of 2021. we start the week on a messy note, for most a mixture of sunny spells in wintry showers but we are keeping an eye on wales, southern england, there could be a spell of snow through the morning and showers piling into eastern coast of the day wears on with rain, sleet, snow and hail in those areas and some for western scotland and northern ireland. the western coast the winds will be gusty on monday and elsewhere much lighter. certainly a cold feeling day, some places will struggle to get much above freezing after a cold, frosty and in places i see start. we give the frost and ice

risk going through monday night and into tuesday, still wintry showers around and generally becoming more confined to coastal counties through the early hours of tuesday and for many temperatures will be at orjust below freezing. we have clearer skies meaning they could dip down to around minus four celsius. for tuesday we have low pressure to the east of the uk and frontal systems trying to grey the west and south—west so the showers look like they will be fewer and further between on tuesday and mostly confined to coastal areas so for those of us inland, we will have the best of the dry and sunny weather after a cold and frosty start. temperatures not much higher than seven celsius. from tuesday into wednesday we still have an area of low pressure to the east of the uk, we are keeping an eye on this frontal system sliding south and eastwards a cross frontal system sliding south and eastwards across the south—west of england and south wales so the cloud increases your through the day with outbreaks of rain and south—west england and south wales and the channel islands and wintry showers

for northern scotland and bury north east england but for most it is dry, some sunshine after a cold and frosty start, 5—7 c the highest temperatures. on wednesday night and into thursday that area of low pressure slides into france, we could keep a few showers going across coastal counties on new year's eve but across east anglia and the south—east, some wintry showers providing some sleet and snow through the last day of 2020. and we could see showers across northern scotland and west wales but we end the year still on that cold note and those temperatures will keep dropping as we head towards midnight on new year's eve. a chance of showers for east anglia and the south—east bringing some wintry precipitation and more across scotla nd precipitation and more across scotland and west wales and as we go through the early hours of new year's day, those temperatures keep falling so we are likely to start the new year with many of us at or below freezing. new year's day should bring spells of sunshine for

many but still a chance of wintry showers across east anglia, said east anglia, northern scotland and may be showers of rain across west wales. into the first weekend of 2021 it looks like this area of high pressure starts to become the dominant feature, still a cold north—easterly wind so there is no change in temperature as we head into the early part of 2021 but it looks like we will enter the new year on looks like we will enter the new yearona looks like we will enter the new year on a cold and frosty note and thatis year on a cold and frosty note and that is what we are going to keep as we head into 2021. goodbye.

tonight at ten, more evidence of the growing pressures on the nhs due to the rising numbers of coronavirus infections. the london ambulance service says boxing day was one of the busiest ever days in its history, with covid—19 adding to the strain across the uk. talking to trust leaders overnight. they are under no illusion about how challenging this is. in scotland, doctors say health services could be overwhelmed, if there's a surge in cases, because of christmas. also tonight. the roll—out of the pfizer biontech vaccine begins for millions of people across the eu. borisjohnson promises big changes for the uk following his brexit trade agreement.