this is the w. news live from burlington revered street protests in me and now with media reports of shots fired at marches in mandalay thousands turn out across the country even as police break up peaceful antique demonstrations with troops on some city streets there are fears of a violent crackdown also on the program russian protesters defy threats of arrest and join flashlight flash mobs in support of jailed dissidents alexei intervallic so how did the kremlin respond. and the problems caused by germany's surprise and

sudden in physicians' of border restrictions with austria and the czech republic in order to keep out coronavirus family. i'm phil gayle welcome to the program. local media reports in miramar say security forces are fired on protesting crowds in the city of mandalay though there's been no official confirmation of injuries or deaths the ministry judge has deployed extra troops across the country as it intensifies efforts to quell a popular uprising a coup 2 weeks ago triggered mass protests and international condemnation so far the generals appear to. mian mars military junta has sent in the big guns soldiers are patrolling the streets a sign that the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters could escalate since this

month's to the military has given itself sweeping powers allowing it to detain people without court order. you know the way that you know he's done it today here we can see military vehicles not police security like before they've tightened security at the central bank because this is the main stream of the country's money in circulation they are afraid the central bank will stop working so that's why they have deployed the military vehicles here most of the o.t. . but the demonstrators are not intimidated bank employees have joined engineers doctors students and even soccer players and refusing to go to work. people's actions won't stop because they have already taken the 1st step which is the most difficult one people are marching on the streets and they don't care if they are arrested or shot we can't stop now the fear in our minds is going away.

the release of civilian leader own son suchi is a key demand of demonstrators she was scheduled to appear in court today but the hearing has been postponed until wednesday meehan mar does not have an independent judiciary says to cheat could be kept in custody indefinitely but as government workers join the civil disobedience movement it could eventually become difficult for the military to keep the government and the hunters hold on it running. well let's get more on this from he's an activist and young going to order to protect his identity he's using the voice filter and disguising his face welcome to a w when i was seeing soldiers on some city streets rather than police which looks like i ask elation how tense is the situation that. oh thank you throw on yes. the tension is heightened because people have already

been living in fear worry about many things including order to arrest the notorious and recently released 22000 prisoners potentially terrorizing the neighborhoods so we have exploited the liberties show or force these days but still civilians are very anxious about what is happening naturally because we have seen a similar tactic or pattern in history thank you 988 and unfortunately this pattern just cause chaos more justice and if we rush are so distant no civilians want that part of this story to repeat itself and people are encouraging each other not idiots programs and respect human rights in handling these kind of situation and or of this their circumstances so you can help in forming that what groups do. i beg your pardon site for and enter outline for us why you are protesting i'm told that you've been on the streets yourself and what took you out there especially given

that the police and the army are against you. on august least within this couple of days well i have been very careful person of the because our letter mentioned before are seeing that this kind of military force in the city is not really a good start to 2 new potential critical so although i was around with photos on i didn't always start seeing more and more of this incognito and just documenting improper for test but for example i saw a protester today with the song sitting in despair or you know it's either you die or you die because you're not ready that this time around and what the leaders i do want to peaceful solution rather than acquire the important station so 'd this is what people would read no they're still afraid that there's the want to find it useful to them. and what do you think

a peaceful solution can look like because you know that the country has had a peaceful solution and many didn't go the way the generals wanted and were here where we are now what's to stop them doing this again even if you get what you want . well at this 'd given circumstance that it's really hard to see what is the peaceful way out because from one side people are not stopping the people does it really do. including encourage or the encouraging people to turn to support is that what this will be just movement because this only civil the last time in the law school or 33 years ago it didn't work that they were not to offer to sit in the on the other hand the authority of the town and there doesn't seem to be willing to forego their power there so it's really hard to see what is there peaceful way that the warrant

to turn any possibility happened so we're just waiting we just didn't see all this was an old and briefly if you would my dad i was on searchings court hearing was postponed to wednesday today what was your reaction to that. on. someone who grew up with this kind of system and regina and. i don't have many comments on it because at this point. as we say this this trial or charges are the water in their hands because we don't have any jurisdiction system here so the military can just extend it postpone it to whatever they like in tough numbers so i don't know any comments on it but my sister under control right now thanks so much for joining us i think i missed lodi from younger

thank you very much. now to russia where the kremlin says the protesters who turned out in support of jailed opposition leader in a valley on sunday did not break the law. as russian authorities have previously threatened participants with arrest western of all his detention has triggered a nationwide demonstrations across the last 2 weekends this time however activists tried going small to have a big impact. as dusk fell the lights in the so-called flash light protests went on across russia supporters of opposition figurehead alexina valmy switched on lights in a display of unity in the siberian city tomsk the protests motto love is stronger than fear shone down from the window of an apartment building. earlier in the day hundreds of russian women formed a human chain in central moscow this time to show solidarity for novell these wife yulian of all night and other women who have become victims of the crackdown since

his imprisonment here to this same message love is stronger than figo the women took this message to the streets despite threats of representation is by the state . because there are saying if i didn't used to protest i was scared and i'm scared now i don't know what consequences there will be but i'm more afraid about the thought that if i don't come out if others don't come out then everything will stay the same it was needed we had need any sort of solidarity you know because alexina valley is the most well known political prisoner now some people forget that there are also a lot of women in this team who are also being persecuted for their political opinions and for their work. against violence of any kind whether it's political violence or domestic violence that's why we're here for love.

well a valentine's day protest was called by one of alexina valley's closest allies leonid vulcan of russia service spoke with him about the protest movements likely next steps i strategy is to be flexible and to be smart and to be smarter isn't put in and. to improvise and to do that things that will help our supporters to organize themselves and they will not. yield to it to do putin strategy of fear and smear campaign that's so i don't want and i can't see anything specific about the format it will be always something new something different our strategy did not change for many years our strategy is to increase pressure on putin and to build up to to lead our support base for all to increase the number of our supporters troop ever seen what we're doing and

so far we've been very successful i think will remain quite successful in the future and how i live it falcoff so let's take a look at the bigger picture of protests from russia and miramar to in here in hong kong the world seems to be taking to the streets chris anderson is a professor of european politics and policy at the london school of economics welcome to day to have you we don't have to look much further for many more examples lebannon hong kong belarus even the united states are there more protests for freedom however you want to define that around the world or rather just being more widely reported. i think it's probably a little bit of both i think at this time what we've seen as political analysts for the last several years we've seen some noticeable what we call backsliding in democratic practices and process these in a number of countries around the world and that kind of backsliding doesn't usually

go unanswered so we do see a reaction from people who cherish and value democracy to that kind of backsliding we've seen it here in europe we've seen it all around the world and it's only natural that you would see a bit of a spike in protests to perhaps ensure that democratic practices can continue to be upheld so they tend to be successful these protests. that's a really good question depends a little how we define successful if we mean by that perhaps that people strong the barricades and make sure that democracy continues to exist in the short run at tends not to be the case but i think what what we have to think about is kind of how these protests will influence the decision making both of political elites people in power people perhaps looking to undermine democracy and democratic practices as well as perhaps the behavior of people who are sitting on the fence

perhaps a little bit on on whether it's worth making a big fuss about what's happening in the country so there's a kind of signaling going on that's happening through the protests both to political elites but also to other people in the country as to how everyone else feels about what's going on but we're also seeing these sorts of process on the streets of of mature democracies countries like germany the united states from save . that's right and those are countries that have long traditions of course of popular protests if you think about france in particular it's a country with a long and strong and they probably tradition of people going into the streets to make their voices heard now and those kinds of countries those protests tend to happen in the context of well functioning democratic institutions and practices you have to get a permit to have a demonstration and things sort of happen if reasonably orderly way that's not the same thing that we're seeing of course in russia and belarus and of course now me and so they're not all the same thing and the effect of course isn't the same

either the people who are trying to change the practices perhaps in the russian case in particular they are trying to bring about a wholesale change in political. within the form of government we have or who is in power and how people are selected for power that's not the case usually and in france or germany i was speaking to a demonstrator in. who has been through the same the cycle before was 30 odd years ago he said we had this 30 odd years ago of course we didn't have the internet which has made a huge difference. it makes a huge difference of course for the protestors in terms of coordinating getting getting each other together and space breading messages to people out there to to assemble in terms of what it is that they're demanding from the government and so on and this is why you see governments authoritarian leaning governments all around

the world trying to control exercise control over social media of course because it is such an important messaging device in this day and age of course what's also interesting about it is that governments try to use social media as well or people who are trying to keep those protesters at the door so to speak they are also being engaged in this kind of game so social media really has changed the that and the dynamic of these protests quite a bit it's also made for the little bit more fun if you think about kind of the kinds of creative strategies that some of the protesters are trying to use in order to communicate with each other and with the government so there's a lot going on that didn't used to happen and it will cost us thank you that's very clear professor chris anderson from the london school of economics and we take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world thousands of people so to the streets of the cap of the capital port au prince to protest against the president over the when least who they accuse of trying to establish.