reporters speak 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 young, media—savvy president has declared war on the 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, at the thousands that have been arbitrarily arrested. peace may have come to el salvador, but at what price?

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?

hello there. storm agnes may be long gone now but that doesn't mean the weather sorry for the week ahead is entirely plain sailing. the jet stream, the winds high up in the atmosphere, still steering various weather systems in our direction. you can see all these different curls of cloud on our earlier satellite image. 0ne weather system moving through early on friday morning. behind that, well, high pressure starts to build from the south. there will still, though, be an area of low pressure, quite a deep one actually up towards the north. so this gives split weather fortunes.

the further south you are, the drier it will be with lots of sunshine. further north, some showers, particularly across western scotland where it will also be windy. and in the far north, we are likely to see gales. temperatures generally between 13 and 20 degrees. now, as we head through friday night, rememberthatarea of high pressure i showed you? well, it builds a little more strongly, just briefly, but that means lighter winds, some clear skies that will, at least for a time, allow it to get quite chilly, even in the towns and cities down into single digits. some spots in the countryside, a little colder than that as we start saturday morning. this area of high pressure still with us, just about to start the weekend. but here comes our next atlantic weather system. this one bringing some rain during saturday across northern ireland. that rain pushing up into scotland, affecting parts of north west england and wales. further south and east, there should be some spells of sunshine and highs of around 20 or 21 degrees. it could be a little bit warmer than that as we get into sunday, this weather system will still be with us actually, hanging back across southern parts as we move through the day on sunday, a band of cloud, some bits and pieces of showery rain, but particularly to the south of that, we are going to have some warmth. temperatures could climb to around 23 celsius.

further north and west, yes, some sunshine, some showers, too. and those temperatures just a little bit lower, although still actually not bad at all for the time of year. as we move out of sunday into monday, this weather system still with us. and if anything, it starts to drift back northwards again and the rain is likely to pep up. so we'll see some cloud, we'll see some outbreaks of rain drifting northwards across wales, northern england, perhaps into northern ireland and southern scotland later. to the north of that, sunshine and showers, to the south of it, still feeling really quite warm and i think fairly humid as well. but by tuesday it's likely we will have a fresher feel, perhaps a bit more of a north—westerly wind by this stage, there will be showers or longer spells of rain, some spells of sunshine, too. temperatures of 12 degrees for lerwick and 20 degrees in london. and then further ahead through the middle and the end of next week, it looks like we will see another area of high pressure building. the big uncertainty is just how long that will last because, as you can see, the jet stream is still trying to bring weather systems in from the atlantic. depending on the timing of all this, though,

ahead of the jet stream — notice the way it bends its way northwards — we could well feed some warmer air northwards as well, at least for a time through the second half of next week. butjust how long that lasts is open to question. but as you can see, there's the potential for some warmer weather, particularly down towards the south before further atlantic weather systems sweep in from the west, bringing more wind and rain. that's all from me. bye for now.

live from washington, this is bbc news. us house republicans make their case for impeaching president biden. democrats say the focus should be on the impending government

shutdown. sirens wail. dutch police arrest a gunman in rotterdam after three people are shot dead. and thousands are fleeing nagorno—karabakh as the leader of the self—declraed republic says it will cease to exist by the end of the year. —— self—declared. i'm sumi somaskanda. it is good to have you with us. the us house of representatives passed a bill to fund the state department, part of late—night votes called by house speaker kevin mccarthy. it's just one of 12 spending appropriation bills that, on its own, won't avert a government shutdown at midnight on sunday without senate action. republicans spent thursday launching their impeachment inquiry into president biden. they accuse him of profiting from his son hunter's business

ventures while he served as vice president.