>> a military garrison in hong kong speaks up for the first time about the ongoing rift. warning that violent clashes will not be tolerated. treasury imposes sanctions against the iranian prime e minister. another two people have died --

marking one date -- one year since the first cases of the disease were reported in the democratic republic of congo. hello and welcome back to the france 24 newsroom. we begin in hong kong where the chief of the chinese military garrison in the city has spoken up for the first time about the ongoing rift. he has warned that violent clashes will not be tolerated, adding the army is determined to protect china takei sovereignty. the commander of the people's liberation army made the comment at a reception celebration -- celebrating the 92nd anniversary of the chinese military. the garrison released a promotional video featuriring shoulders -- soldiers outing out that a all consequences will be at your own risk. our beijing correspondent spoke earlier. beijing is that losing patience although they

are keeping to the official law that they have been holding since the beginning of this protest that this is the responsibility of the hong kong government and they support the hong kong government and police force to deal with ththis on thr owown terms but they are showing that if they deem it necessary, they will step in to resolve this situation. a little bit of context on this video. anniversaryhe 92nd of the people's liberation army which is the communist party's army which is behind the foundation of the people's republic of china, since 1949, it also is being aired about a after theter a week -- about a week after the -- the people's liberation army can intervene in hong kong at the request of local authorities, so again flexing their muscles, showing that this goes too far, they will step in. there is also another thing that

has happened in the last week which will show beijing resolving this issue is the fact militaryuesday, a drill took place just on the others of the border with hong kong where over 190,000 police officers held a military drill just to prepare for the celebration. this is not a usual kind of drill. messages clearly a intended for the demonstrators in hong kong. >> reporting from beijing. joining me now from hong kong is ththe opposition leader. do these commentnts from the hed of the pla gararrison in hong kg worry you? yes. that what he said

about safeguarding the country's sovereignty is just not fair or true because for this title wave of protests in hong kong so far this summer, it has nothing to do with a sovereignty issue. a promise to do with under oneng where country, two systems. it is barely 1.1 systems. they are enjoying a high degree of autonomy and it is all a sham because they have been chipping at our freedoms in the last 22 when hong kong97 wawas returned to china. to give trying

themselves thiss excuse, making sort of a military threat over hong kong and it is just not fair and it may backfire. >> as a result, how likely do you think it is that beijing is going to impose a crackdown in hong kong? i still think it is rather unlikely, a threat is a threat and they want the hong kong people to just shut up. previously, they effectively told hong kong that beijing force,s -- the police the police brutality is enough to quell down all of these protests. we are -- they are not trying to solve the problem. they are just trying to get rid of the people who raised the problem.

that is very unfair. i also understand that there are plenty of learned people in meansg who use military to shut down hong kong and it would be a very high-stakes game for beijing. if you are number one or two in the global world, you are supposed to be embracing universal values, moral fibers involving rule of law, human rights, democracy and so on and so forth. you can't just shut down hong kong like that. >> how do you think this isis al going toto play outut at the enf the day? that is a difficult question.

how is it to end? i hope that something in the middle road will happen. at the end of the day, aging will say let's talk. two words alone, probably would calm down a lot of the young people, let's talk and let's see how hong kong can seriously preserve its freedoms and then we would have a genuine one man, one vote election. candidates running in the election without beijing censorship. things like that. at the moment, we are in a very desperate situation. our young are standing very firm, they are standing their ground. they are not giving in or giving up. the authorities are threatening with tanks and apcs in the streets of hong

kong. a polarized kind of scenario. it is extremely worrying. i hope somewhere in the middle that beijing is willing to talk. instead of spending our situation into some hong kong independence nonsense and call it a sovereignty issue. >> thehe opposition politician from hong kokong, thank you. news, iran's foreign minister dismissed washington's imposition of sanctions on him, declaring they would not affectt him. the american move targeting the foreign minister directly and potentially hurting chances of diplomatic talks amid rising tensions betetween the nations. joining me now is our international reporter. the u.s., why have

they imposed sanctions? >> this is the next in a series of sanctions that the u.s. has a -- has been imposing on iran sincnce it pulled out of the nuclear deal last year. this time against the foreign, saying he is the friendly me able face of iran smiling and alwaysys talking t to foreign capitals but behind it all, there is a person who is a spspokesperson for t the irarann regime and he is o only keen in organizing a secret weapons program by y tryingng to negotie deals behind the backs of the to keep iran's nuclear program on the cards. that is why it decided to move into imposining sanctions. iran has dismissed that in the foreign ministster himself has been saying i don't have any assets overseas soso it is not going to affect me in any way.

it is really a case of the united states being so scared about iraran telling the truth that they must impose sanctions to stop him from traveling. >> we are not seeing a way out of this current crisis. >> we are not. ififou look at the last few weeks,s, tanks against tankers n the strait of -- that has been blamed on iran. iran has said it was not responsible for the shooting down of a u.s. drone which almost led to conflict. donald trump pulling back at the last minute. the impounding of inin and tinker by britatain off the coat of gibraltar -- of an iranian tanker by britain off the coast of gibraltar. hopefuls not lookok very for finding a way out of this crisis and if you look at what is going on in the united states, two people in the form

of john bolton and mike pompeo, who are both hawkish and have made it plainly clear what they want is a regime change in iran. thehere does this leave 2015 nuclear agreement? china,ain, france, russia and germany are stuck in the middle of all of this, particularly the european nations who say they could carry on with this nuclear deal at the risk of upsetting the united states and trade deals with them and if they pull out, that will push iran even more to the brink. difficult to know exactly where this is going to play out in the long run, especially as written is right in the middle of this tanker crisis. on all fronts it is not looking good.

>> thank you for that. in other news, this thursday marking one year since the first cases of ebola were recorded in the democratic republic of congo. and and pererson has dieied third case has been diagnosed with another 15 more people being quarantined. authorities are struggling to contain the virus that is now posing a threat to neighboring countries. rwanda announced it will be closing its border. august 2018, the congo's health ministry declares four cases of ebola. it m marks the start o of cong's tense ebola outbreak -- 10th ebola outbreak. the virus is still spreading and has claimed ovover 1800 lives..

>> the role of the population is crucial. we cannot do a anything withouta committed population. that is why we are trying to depict -- detect suspicious cases at a committee level. >> the ebola virus has spread through blood or bodily fluids and it is not airborne. to avoid getting infected, it is recommended to stay away from wild animals and avoid contact with infected people. despite a cacampaign backed d be u.n. a and i international dono, local authorities have been struggling to contain the epidemic. health centers and medical staff have come under attack from various militia groups active in the region. there has also beenen widespread mistrust among the local population, some even denying that t the diseasese exists. >> i think therere was more than 1800 dthths, it is crucial to give people a reality y check.

people who lost family members will never say that ebola does not exist. >> most cases of the virus have been in remote areas but recently, two people have died of ebola in the city that sits on the border with rwanda. the disease could continue to spreadad not only inin the drc t also to neighboring c countries. >> with europe facing a record overummer, and concerns climate change continuing to rise, officials have instigated , saving five cents toward public transportation for every plastic bottle they recycle. it adds fiveve cents to o the passenger's account every time a bottle is recycled. that is it for this edition. stay with us here on france 24.

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