..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, at the thousands that have been arbitrarily arrested. peace may have come to el salvador, but at what price?

teacher audelia has lived here since the late 1990s — 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. this neighbour explains the person they're looking for has already been arrested. but this ruthless new security policy hasn't 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. all chant. 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?

hey, i'm levi with the catch up. tonight: new pictures of sara sharif.

an asteroid heading to earth. and a feathery pillow. but first, let's start with some positive news. an 8—year—old girl has become the first child in the uk to receive a special type of kidney transplant that means she doesn't have to take long—term drugs to stop her body from rejecting it. doctors did it by reprogramming her immune system and using bone marrow cells from her mum. here's her parents�* reaction. we are so happy, actually. i gave her the blood cells and the kidney. i am so happy, of course. ifeel perfectly the kidney. i am so happy, of course. i feel perfectly 0k, yes. we're so proud of her and is doing every day very fine. some other stories now. new images have been released of 10—year—old sara sharif, whose body was found at her home in woking in august. surrey police have released the pictures in hope it'll prompt people to come forward with information. tributes are being paid to sheffield united midfielder maddy cusack, who has died

at the age of 27. she'd been at the club since 2019 and became the first player to reach 100 appearances for the women's team last season. a coroner has confirmed euphoria actor angus cloud died —— now, in science — this weekend, a capsule is expected to fall from space and land in the american state of utah. it contains rocks and dust from an asteroid which could give important clues about how our planet was formed more than four billion years ago. and now, i'll leave you with 10 seconds of laughter. michael from nottingham was walking to the shops when a pigeon crashed into him and hit him on the head. he said it felt like being whacked with a feather pillow. hope you enjoyed that as much as i did. have a good night! hello. it's the autumn equinox on saturday morning, so the first day of autumn, officially. how about the weather? it's looking a little mixed this weekend and quite an interesting headline there — the tail end of a hurricane is expected to bring us some warm weather to some parts of the country but also

a dose of wind and rain. and here it is. hurricane nigel soon to become an ex—hurricane, also being absorbed by the weather systems in the mid latitudes and all of that is heading our way and also, a south—southwesterly wind ahead of it will develop ahead of this large area of low pressure and that means somewhat warmer weather streaming in from the south. so, it's a tale of two halves, quite literally. so, the forecast, then, through the early morning shows clear skies across most of the uk. having said that, it is going to be quite chilly, despite this remnant storm heading our way. temperatures will be around eight degrees even in the south of the country and close to freezing, if not below, in the sheltered glens of scotland. now, here it is, that weather front, by this stage bringing cloud, a shield of cloud, to northern ireland, wales, and the south—west. within it, some outbreaks of rain. but out towards the east

and the north, it's a cracking day both in the morning and the afternoon. we're expecting sunny spells. temperatures around 18 in london, a bit fresher there in scotland. and then, it's saturday night into sunday that that weather front sweeps across the uk. the winds will freshen and we are expecting some rain. some of the rain will be heavy at times. so, here's the forecast, then — out towards the west and the north, increasing winds, gale force winds around some of the coasts, and some heavy rain at times. the further east and south—east you are, the sunnier and warmer it will be — in fact, 20 degrees in london. but even further north where it's cloudy and rainy, temperatures will be close to 20. but let's take a closer look. and here are the gusts of wind, 50 to even 60 miles an hour. now, that is a strong wind blowing out of the south. and then, all of that rain sweeping across the country as well sunday evening into the early hours of monday. now, here's the outlook into the week ahead. those temperatures remain in the low 20s across the south of the country but be warned — at times, we could be seeing

some pretty gusty, rainy, windy weather in the week ahead. bye— bye.

live from london, this is bbc news. calls for urgent action to help the uk's most vulnerable energy customers as a group of mps warn of high costs heading into winter. russell brand makes his first comments since he was accused of rape and sexual assault. us media reports washington is to supply ukraine with advanced long range missiles as a ukrainian strike hits russia's black sea naval headquarters. hello. urgent action is needed to help vulnerable energy customers in the uk as winter approaches,

according to a group of mps. the energy security and net zero committee, made up of members from across political parties, says any announcement of support from the government is long overdue. urgent action is needed to help vulnerable energy customers is long overdue. the group has made a number of recommendations to help those who might struggle as the weather gets colder, as our business reporter noor nanji explains. last winter was hard for many households with soaring energy build seating into thejets. this year's report warns that this winter could be even worse with bills predicted to stay higher, what cost—of—living pressure and accumulated energy debt. it has an announcement from support is long overdue. if they stepped up to the place last year but we want to make sure that the energy companies and consumer groups are looking out for vulnerable consumers. the first thing is that the government needs to give some

sort of surety to vulnerable households about