ai ai this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the alice straight after this news programme. reporters speak in spanish. it was once the murder capital of the world. cries. for decades, rival gangs ruled the streets of el salvador through violence, extortion and fear. until now. for a year, the country's media—savvy president has declared war on gangs...

..imposing emergency security measures and giving police sweeping powers of arrest. thousands are now behind bars. and the country is transforming before people's eyes. but there's a dark underside hidden from view. human rights groups are dismayed, as are relatives, as thousands have been arbitrarily arrested. peace may have come to el salvador, but at what price?

teacher audelia has lived here since the late 19905 — la campanera in the capital's notorious soyapango district.

more than 20 years ago, rival gangs the ms—13 and the 18th street gang took control of neighbourhoods across the country. they became, in effect, no—go areas for outsiders and the police. thousands were murdered or caught in the crossfire. and in those years of the growth of the gangs, can you explain to us what it was like living here?

but in the last 12 months, audelia has witnessed the change on these streets that she never thought possible. for the past year, el salvador

has been living under an emergency measure called the state of exception. police and military have been mobilised in vast numbers and some constitutional rights suspended. defeating the gangs was one of the main election promises of nayib bukele, a former marketing executive turned president. so, what's the policy meant on the streets? in the suburbs of san salvador, another security patrol is about to set off. every day for a year, dozens of police, soldiers and elite troops have been sent into the back streets of the capital, carrying lists. they search anyone with

a possible profile or tattoos of a gang member. it's alleged that some officers have been given daily quotas for arrests. others are sent to specific houses, often using anonymous tip—offs. dog barks. this neighbour explains the person they're looking for has already been arrested. but this ruthless new security policy has not brought peace to everyone in el salvador. in this small rural community,

i've come to meet marcela. she tells me about the moment the police swept into their village last year. her sonjose duval was working in the fields. jose was arrested under a charge being widely used by the police during

this crackdown. unlawful association has been criticised by human rights organisations for its broad interpretation. it justifies arrest on the grounds of being even indirectly connected with a gang. did he have any gang affiliation that they accuse him of?

this is like a petition, signed by members of the community tojose duval�*s good character, to his lack of involvement in any gang activity, signed by all of the neighbours in the village. there must be 100 or so of them, and she says she has more inside. do you have any information at all about how he's doing inside? have you been able

to see him at all? marcela's greatest fear is that jose may end up here, a new mega prison built to house gang members. president bukele ensured these carefully choreographed images made headlines across the globe. more than 65,000 people have been arrested in just 12 months, making el salvador�*s prison population proportionally the highest in the world.

do you think that you will have the strength to get through these next months? marcela is not alone. it's the one year anniversary of the state of exception. in the capital, hundreds of families are taking to the streets. chanting. they say that their loved ones have been detained arbitrarily in flagrant abuse of their human rights and of the constitution.

they say they haven't heard from them, have no information about them, and simply don't know when or if they will ever be let out again — and there are people here who've lost loved ones in prison, too.

outside the national assembly building, the protesters call for the release of their detained relatives. yelling. they can only imagine the poor conditions inside the prisons. but one woman has agreed to talk about her experience. dolores, a union leader and single mum, was at home when she received an unexpected knock at the door.

do you think your arrest was related to your union activities? dolores was not told the grounds of her arrest — one of the rights suspended under the state of exception. it wasn't until days later that she realised she was being charged with unlawful association. soon after, she was sent to prison. can you tell me what that experience was like?

while dolores was in prison, her teenage daughter had to care for her five siblings. union members protested tirelessly against her sentence. after seven months, she was released. the government says that the international committee of the red cross makes regular visits to assess prison conditions. critics say targeting union leaders like dolores shows the president is using the emergency measure to undermine potential opposition. i put this to his vice—president, felix ulloa, in an exclusive interview. you have made it sound very innocent, very light, but the truth is, it grants some extremely draconian powers to the police, that they

can arrest you merely on an anonymous phone call, merely for having tattoos, merely for suspecting that you have an association with illicit gang activity. what you said is not true. i mean, the police, didn't go, or didn't went to the communities to capture people because they have tattoo, or because there is an anonymous phone call, no. it's not like that. this is a lie that has been spread overfor the political position in el salvador. the truth is that when the police go to capture a person in a community, it's because they have the profile. nevertheless, human rights organisations and many others, including the families of many of those who been arrested, say they have been arrested with absolutely no link to gain crime, that there are thousands of people in prison. it could be, when you handle an operation of this size, there will be some mistakes

and some people could be arrested with no link with the gangs. and how do you feel about that? you are admitting on camera that there are thousands of people, potentially thousands of people innocent. and thousands of people have been released. we are aware, as you said, that some people, probably innocent people could be part, but as i said, the perfect is enemy of the good. we are doing something really good, appreciated by the population, over 90% of the population agree with the state of exception, and they want to be extended. his policy has brought bukele unprecedented levels of support in el salvador. with a series of high—impact, headline—grabbing orders captured by his well—oiled media machine, mr bukele is now trying to wipe away any trace of the gangs from public view, even destroying gravestones with gang symbols on them.

hundreds of former gang safe houses are also being reclaimed. with the help of low—interest loans, they are passed on to localfamilies, like audelia's. if the president does stand for re—election, will you vote for him?

100 kilometres away, marcela is also taking me to see a new house. hola. it's the one her sonjose was building for his wife, his daughter and the baby son he is yet to meet, born after he was sent to prison.

despite opponents saying it's unconstitutional, president bukele is expected to stand for re—election in 202a. his security crackdown should make him unassailable at the polls. but are thousands of families like marcela's paying the price?

hello there. the weather remains very quiet at the moment. we are seeing some big differences, though, this weekend. more cloud for scotland and northern ireland and more sunshine once again for wales and england as well. we've still got high

pressure dominating. it's sitting right over the uk and that weather front, which has been bringing some rain in scotland and northern ireland, will be weakening and so the rain will be becoming very light and patchy but will keep cloud in many areas of scotland and northern ireland. maybe some sunshine in the northwest, the best of the sunshine for england and wales, although some cloud coming in off the north sea and affecting some southeastern and southern parts of england as well. but in the sunshine, those temperatures will reach 20 or 21 degrees again on sunday. but if anything, it may be a little bit cooler than it was on saturday across scotland and northern ireland, even with some sunshine in the northwest, that area of high pressure still dominating another weak weather front heading into the northwest of the uk for monday. a little bit of rain on that. not very much. it moves away, leaving one or two showers maybe for western scotland, perhaps northern ireland, england and wales still dry on monday. a good deal of sunshine, maybe more of a northerly breeze. and those temperatures still reaching 17 degrees in glasgow and perhaps 20 or 21 across parts

of england and wales. so pleasantly warm in the sunshine. high pressure still around as we head into tuesday. that's the surface pressure chart up higher up in the atmosphere. things are colder and more unstable, which is why we could just see one or two showers coming into the midlands and eastern england on tuesday. despite what looks like high pressure, we will have more of a breeze coming into the northwest of scotland that will bring more cloud in here. but those temperatures aren't really changing too much. 16 to 20 celsius, i think on tuesday, perhaps a little bit lower than monday. for england, where we are seeing more cloud, we may well find another weather front coming into the northwest of the uk in time for wednesday. some rain for northern most parts of scotland, but otherwise dry. maybe a few spots of rain later coming in to northern ireland. more cloud here. england and wales still dry. maybe the cloud bubbling up

a little bit through the day and spreading out. but in the sunshine it will feel very pleasant. temperatures of 19 or 20 degrees. cooler in the northwest of the uk with the cloud and that patchy rain. that moves away. high pressure again re—established by thursday. so keeping it dryjust about everywhere. again, a little breezy in the far north of the uk and there could be some showers in the northwest of scotland. northern ireland looks dry, although fairly cloudy in the way of sunshine for england and wales and the higher temperatures getting pushed down towards southern parts of england and wales again reaching 20 or 21 celsius. so very quiet over the week ahead. it will probably stay much the same. as we look further ahead into the following weekend, we're going to find more weather fronts may be coming down from the northwest, mainly affecting scotland and northern ireland. but essentially high pressure is going to be sitting across much of the uk keeping it dry. now there's no really hot weather coming our way for the outlook, if anything, the signs of something a little cooler at times

in the northwest. but otherwise, if we look at our city forecasts for the outlook and temperatures are actually going to be pretty much what they should be at this time of the year. so, average sort of temperatures you'll pick out from that, there is a lot of dry weather around and there'll be some sunshine at times breezy in the far north of the uk and maybe through the english channel. otherwise, light winds.

live from washington, this is bbc news. the defence ministry in moscow says wagner mercenaries with the support of russian troops, have taken full control of bakhmut. ukraine denied similar claims earlier. the war dominates talks at the g7, as president zelensky spends the day meeting world leaders. and in sport, as manchester city win the premier league for the third year in a row, our analysis editor ros atkins takes a look at the problems the club faces off the pitch. hello, i'm helena humphrey, glad

you could join us. we begin with some news from the war in ukraine.