08/12/19 08/12/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! cared about was, gofundme more girls. his appetite was insatiable. hehe could not stop. you wanted new young, fresh faces every single day. amy: jeffrey epstein is dead. authorities say he took his own life in his manhattan jail cell, but the fight for justice continues for his many victims. will chargeecutors

his accounts as we will speak with "the miami herald." thereporting led to reopening of the epstein sexual trafficking probe. and to hong kong where mass protests forced authorities to close hong kong's international and ground flights and one of the busiest airports in the world. thth comes aftfter police crackdown on a number of protests over the weekend. >> hong kong has just seen its darkest weekend in its can to bury history. we saw the station being turned into a gas chamber, protesters being pushed down an escalator alsolice where they had fired at protesters within a meters range of an arrogant. amy: and in russia, tens of thousands marched saturday in the largest antigovernment protest in years. many people came here today

for justice. i am one of them. i have lived most of my life under russian president vladimir putin and i'm not happy about that. i think there should be rotation authority. it should meet the demands of people and always support dialogue. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcomome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. federal investigators are probing the death of 66-year-old accused serial sex abuser and trafficker jeffrey epstein after he was found dead in his manhattan jail cell saturday morning. the authorities say he died by suicide by hananging. jeffrey epstein was reportedly unsupervisised in his cell despe being put on suicide watch in july after he was found unconscious with marks on his neck. he had since been removed from suicide watch but should have

been checked by guards every 30 minutes and was supposed to have had a cell mate -- neither of which were the case at the time of his death. epstein's death came less than 24 hours after hundreds of pages of court documents were unsealed with testimonies from former employees and new details of sexual abuse committed by epstein, which also implicated a number of well-known politicians and others in the public eye, including former new mexico governor bill richardson, former senate majority leader george mitchell, alan dershowitz, prince andrew, and a well-known prime minister. many have denied the allegations. as public speculation mounted following news of his death, president trump joined in by retweeting, without evidence, a conspiracy theory that epstein's death was the result of foul play by the clintons. epstein's accusers spoke out over the weekend.

jennifer aroz, who last month came forward to say that epstein raped her when she was 15, said in a statement -- "we have to live with the scars of his actions for the rest of our lives, while he will never face the consequences of the crimes he committed, the pain and trauma he caused so many people. epstein is gone, but justice must still be served. i hope the authorities will pursue and prosecute his accomplices and enablers, and ensure redress for his victims." new york prosecutors said that the investigation into epstein's alleged crimes would continue despite his death. we'll have more on this story afafter headlines s with "the mi herald's" senior editor for investigations casey frank. in hong kong where mass popular protests are in their 10th week, officials have closed international airport, grounding all flights. many protesters are rushing to clear the airport fearing threats of more police action. but hundreds of activists remain.

thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators gathered over the weekend to protest police brutality and call for pro-democracy reforms that they say the beijing aligned government is attempting to weaken hong kong's katana me. clashes broke out between protesters and police forces, turning especially violent sunday night as riot police fired tear gas inside a subway beating and were filmed protesters with batons. meanwhile, mainland china has been ramping up actions to oppose the demonstrations. last week china ordered hong kong based airline to suspend any staff who supports prpro-democracy protests. more on hong kong later in the broadcast. in russia, up to 60,000 protesters gathered in moscow saturday for the fifth mass demonstration in a month and the largest demonstration the country has witnessed for years. dozens were arrested in moscow as well as in other cities

across the country. saturday's protest was organized to denounce the recent barring of opposition candidates from running in an upcoming election for the moscow city council. we will have more later in the broadcast with the newew schools nina khrushcheva. questions are mounting over last thursday's explosion in the white sea off the northern coast of russia, which killed at least seven people, mostly scientists. the blast caused a radiation spike in the surrounding area and u.s. experts suspect it was caused during a test of a nuclear-powered cruise missile. this comes are growing over a renewed nuclear arms race between the u.s. anand russia following g the trump'p's withdl from the landmark intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty. earlier r this month, russia's foreigign ministry called the if treaty formally dead. in norway, police say the suspected gunman who attacked a mosque n near the capital oslo

saturday has a history of sting whitite supremacist content online. the man who was identified as a 22-year-old man, praraised the mass shooting in el paso which targeted mexican immigrants and praised the massacre in christchurch, new zealand, which killed 51 muslim worshippers in march. saturday's shooting at the al noor islamic center, which injured one 75-year old worshipper who helped tackle the gunman, is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism. after the attack, the dead body of the suspected shooter's stepsister was found at his home. she was 17 years old. last week in the mass shooting in dayton, ohio, the gunman shot and killed his sister along with eight others. this is irfan mushtaq, the director of the mosque in oslo. , , they sayny years

the biggest r risk for this country. looking at the last two major whodents, it is not muslims have d done it. thisis is affecting our childre. [indiscecernible] government -- t the amy: in yemen, officials from the u.n.-recognized government conceded defeat sunday to the united arab emirates in the port city of aden after southern separatists took control of government military camps and the presidential palace. this came after days of fighting that killed a reportrted 40 peoe includining civilians. saududi arabia threw its s suppt behind yemenen's exiled preresit as the s saudi-uae coalition appeared to fracture over recent days. ththe international crisis group warned f friday the situation an

"t"threatened to tip southern yemen into a civil war within a civil war." tens of thousandsds have been killed by fighting in yemen since 2015, and the ensuing food crisis has caused the death by starvation of an estimated 85,000 children. in occupied east jerusalem, israeli forces fired tear gas, sound grenades, and rubber bullets inside the al-aqsa mosque sunday, as palestinians gathered for the first day of eid al-adha. dozens of palestinians were injured in the attack. clashes arose after authorities allowed hundreds of religious israeli jews to enter the holy site of al aqsa for prayer during eid. jews are usually allowed to enter the site but are not permitted to pray there. palestinian diplomat and member of the palestine liberation organization hanan ashrawi said -- "the storming of al-aqsa mosque compound by israeli occupation forces this eid morning is an act of recklessness and aggression."

the clashes at al aqsa mosque came as israeli soldiers killed five men in gaza at the separation barrier with israel. the israeli military said it fatally shot four armed palestinians saturday and another man on sunday. in guatemala, alejandro giammattei of the ultraconservative vamos party, won the presidency after a runoff vote sunday, where he faced off against former first lady sandra torres. he got 58% of the vote, with just 42% of eligible voters casting ballots. giammattei, a former head of guatemala's prison system, ran on a law and order platform, promising to bring back the death penalty and deploy soldiers to the streets. he has been accused of money laundering, ties to drug traffickers, and extrajudicial killings. giammattei has said he wants to modify the controversial immigration deal signed last month between president trump and the outgoing president jimmy morales. the deal requires asylum seekers heading to the u.s. border to apply for asylum in guatemala

instead of at the u.s.-mexico border and would primarily affect honduran and salvadoran migrantsts. back in the u.s., former vice president and 2020 hopeful joe biden is coming under fire after he contrasted poor kids with white kids at an event hosted by the iowa asian and latino coalition biden go we of this notion that somehow if you are poor, you cannot do it. poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids. wealthy kids, black kids comeme asian kids. amy: biden later said he mimisspoke while delivering his remarks. on saturday, biden said that survivors from the parkland massacre visited him when he was vice president, when in fact the mass shooting took place last year -- over a year after biden's tenure in the white house. in a victory for trans gender rights, a a federal judge ruled friday that a virginia school board's policy which barred a transgender student from using the bathroom that corresponded

to his gender identity is unconstitutional. the case was brought by the aclu on behalf of gavin grimm, a former virginia student. judge arenda wright allen wrote -- "transgender students are singled out, subjected to discriminatory treatment, and excluded from spaces where similarly situated students are permitted to go." grimm celebrated the ruling, tweeting -- "i promise to continue to advocate for as long as it takes for everyone to be able to live their authentic lives freely, in public, and without harassment and discrimination." to see our interview with gavin grimm, go to democracynow.org. four-time olympic gold medalist four-time olympic gold medalist simone biles won her sixth u.s. national championship sunday, completing two historic moves in the process. she became the first woman to land a double back flip with three twists in a floor competition, one day after she became the first person ever to ever complete two twists and two somersaults coming off the balance beam.

during an interview with reporters at the championship games last week, biles called out usa gymnastics for failing to protect young athletes from dr. larry nasser, the former team doctor who was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for sexually assaulting g and abusig more than 160 young female athletes. last year, biles revealed she was a survor of nasser'ss abuse. it is hard coming he for an organization a havininhad them failils so manyimeses. weonolold. we didverything they asked us for even o one we did not t wano come and they could d not do onedamamn job. you literally had one job and you could not protect us. in more sports news, two u.s. athletes used their victories at the pan american games in peru, to protest president trump and u.s. policies as they took to the podium.

hammer thrower gwen berry raised her fist at the end of the national anthem after accepting her gold medal. she told usa today sports -- "somebody has to talk about the things that are too uncomfortable to talk about. somebody has to stand for all of the injustices that are going on in america and a president who's making it worse." a day earlier, race imboden, a member of the gold-winning men's fencing team, took the knee while on the podium. he later tweeted -- "we must call for change. this week i am honored to represent team usa at the pan am games, taking home gold and bronze. my pride however has been cut short by the multiple shortcomings of the country i hold so dear to my heart. racism, gun control, mistreatment of immigrants, and a president who spreads hate are at the top of a long list." the u.s. olympic and paralympic committee said boden could face

disciplinary action for his protest. and acclaimed chilean economist and environmentalist manfred max-neef died thursday at the age of 86. max-neef taught economics at various colleges, including the university of california, berkeley, and the austral university of chile, where he taught until last year. he promoted development alternatives to address poverty. in 1993, he ran as an independent for president of chile. max-neef won the right livelihood award -- known as the alternative nobel prize -- in 1983, two years after the publication of his book "outside looking in: experiences in barefoot economics." this is manfred max-neef, speaking to democracy now! in 202010 in bonn, germany. >> in poverty, there is enormous creativity. you cannot be an idiot if you want to survive. every minute you have to be thinking, what next?

what can i do here? your creativity is constant. networks ofed with corporation, mutual aid, all sorts of extraordinary things which you know longer find in society, which is individualistic, greedy. amy: that was chilean economist and environmentalist manfred max-neef speaking to me in 2010. he died last week at his home in valdivia, chile, at the age of 86. to see our full interview with him, you can go to democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show looking at the shocking death of accused serial sex trafficker jeffrey epstein, who once counted president trump and former president bill clinton to be among his many high profile friends.

epstein was found dead in his manhattan jail cell saturday morning. authorities say epstein hanged himself. epstein had been put on suicide watch after he was found unconscious with marks on his neck in july. but authorities had removed him from suicide watch 11 days before his death. the fbi and the department of justice have launched investigations into his death. epstein had been in jail since july when he was arrested for allegedly running a sex trafficking operation by luring underage girls as young as 14 years old to his mansion in manhattan. epstein's death came less than 24 hours after hundreds of pages of court documents were unsealed with testimonies from former employees and new details of sexual abuse committed by epstein, which also implicated a number of well-known figures. men named in the papers include former new mexico governor bill richardson, former senator

george mitchell, harvard law professor alan dershowitz, and prince andrew. they have all denied the charges. numerous conspiracy theories strolled online about epstein's death. president trump joined in by retweeting, without evidence, a conspiracy theory that epstein's death was the result of foul play and somehow connected to the clintons. epstein's accusers spoke out over the weekend. jennifer aroz, who last month came forward to say that epstein raped her when she was just 15, said in a statement -- "i am angry jeffrey epstein won't have to face his survivors of his abuse in court. we have to live with the scars of his actions for the rest of our lives, while he will never face the consequences of the crimes he committed, the pain and trauma he caused so many people." epstein's victimims have been pursuing justice for years. epstein was previously accused of molesting and trafficking dozens, and potentially hundreds, of underage girls in florida.

but jeffrey epstein ended up serving just 13 months in a county jail after the u.s. attorney in florida, alexander acosta, cut what's been described as one of the most lenient deals for a serial child sex offender in history. criticism of acosta's role forced him to resign as a labor secretary last month. while the federal criminal prosecution of epstein will likely end, prosecutors can still pursue charges against any of his accomplices. civil suits will also continue against epstein's multimillion dollar estate. lawsuits could be filed as soon as wednesday when new york's child victims act takes effect. the new law gives all past victims of child sex abuse a year to sue their abususers regardless of how long ago the crime occurred. we go to miami right now to be joined by casey frank, the miami herald's senior editor for investigations. the newspapers multipart series

published in november is largely credited with reopening the epstein case. casey frank, thank you for joining us. welcome back to democracy now! first, share your response when you heard the news on saturday. authorities saying that jeffrey epstein hanged himself in his cell. s surprised.ut not jejeffrey epstein would haveve n a person w who would enter the jail system up there with blinking the on sinino was a "potentitial suicide risk"k" anf course thahat was the incident where heate july perhaps attempted to kill himself. the details on the incident are a little bit murky. so what really surprised me was to find out he was not, at the time of his death, on suicide watch. is extremelythis

significant. he had attempted suicide in july. many people thought, as you said, he was still on suicide watch. they only learned after his death that authorities took him off suicide watch and put him in a cell. the protocol is, if you're taken off suicide watch, you would be in a cell with another person. he was alone in that cell. he was supposed to be checked something like at least every 30 minutes, which apparently he was not. the excuse given was that the guards were overworked and worked overtime throughout the week, were tired. many people are really questioning whether in fact this was a suicide or was it a kind of, sadly, assisted suicide in the sense that all of these suicide protocols were broken. well, the investigatition of that suicide and how it was

allowed to occur is one of many that are going to occur in thee coming weeeeks and months. dead,gh mr. epstein is there are many investitigative avenues to pursue. we and others, i'm sure, are going to be pursuing them. barr, in fact,m these are barr's bars. the correctional center is run by the department of justice ultimately, the attorney general is in charge, william barr is in charge. he said in investigational go forward. as you pointed out, the investigation has not even been revealed about what happened the first time whether it was epstein himself who attempted suicide or at that time he was in a jail cell with someone else , he said someone had attacked him. > cocorrect. i am sure there will be video surveillance coming out bototh

frfrom the original inincident d in the incident over this weekend. and that, along with employee us or give will tell us some indication of what happened. like i said, that is only one of many investigations that need to be pursued despite the fact that mr. epstein is no longer here to face whatever charges he was going to face. amy: they are now saying there is no video. frank, your newspaper "the miami herald" has an important headline. -- thedline says editorial said, "in death, jeffrey epstein is not a victim. the real victims still deserve justice."

and that is what you as editor and julie frank -- julie brown, the reporter, have been doing for months, giving voice to the victims. can you explain what happens at this point now that jeffffrey epstein, who had been re-arres facing 45s in mcc years in prison, what happens to the victims? orwell, several victims alleged victims had stepped forward after mr. epstein's arrest last month. i think there were at least a dozen of those. i would expect to see more coming forward in the future. bear in mind, a lot of these victims were very frightened to come forward over the years. it was very difficult for julie brown, our reporter, to get any of them to speak on the record and on camera. it took quite a bit of coaxing and quite a bit of courage on their part.

as to what happens in terms of getting them justice, mr. .pstein has a very large estate and as part of the prosecution in new york, the u.s. attorney's hadce for sououthern new york made known that it was going to the $77 million mansion of mr. epstein. of course, that would have required convictcting him ofof e crimes he was charged with. hehe will n not now be convictef those crimes, so it complicates the efforts of the victims. the lawyers for those victims as well as the manhnhattan u.s. justice to achieve through some sort of financial means. but they have said they will continue to do so, in addition,

as you said earlier, to the conspiracy case against -- that was filed against mr. epstein will continue. that means there will be other potentiall defendants coming forward. one that has been mentioned prominently is going maxwell, alleged to be mr. epstein's pimp. there are others. yet a masters, schedulers, a large operation that served his alleged sexual trafficking machine, i guess you would say. and i would expect to see other people charged in the not-too-distant future. amy: casey frank, can you talk about the document release on friday, hours before jeffrey epstein was found dead in his cell? it was massive. it was 2000 pages. we were still sifting through

epsteinwhen mr. apparerently commimitted suicidn his j jail cell. soso we're still going through those r records. much of what was in there was already known. the names that you mention earlier, including the former governor of nenew mexico and the former majority leader, they had been out there in the ether before, whether they have been published or not. all have denieied any sortrt of connection to the sexual activities invnvolving mr. epstein's sex slaves, i guess you would call them. but there was other interesting informatation that w we providen our saturday news coverage, specifically there was some broughtbout ann aupair to thehe united d states, i bele from sweden, who worked for a couple who were frieiendly with

mr. epstein. and she described -- rather a butler who worked for them described how she was brought down to mr. epstein's island in the virgin islands and allegedly mr. epstein and perhaps others attempted to course her into sex. she became very upsetet. she found her way back to the home she was staying in up here. and this was something that was somewhat new to us. as also some information in there about virginia roberts who probably has been the most vocal of mr. epstein's alleged victims come describing in one instance how she ended up in hospital l as a result of the alleged abuse by mr. epstein. amy: explain what she is allegiging in this case. is alleging shehe

lured to mr. epstein's estate in palmlm beach -- actualally, she was working at mar-a-lago at the time and she was brought to mr. epstein's maxwell tostensibly massageabobout the skill of and also possibly be put through college and travel the world. what she found is she was immediately turned into essentially a sex slave by mr. ssstein and allegedly mi maxwell as well. she, more than anyone else, has been vocal over the years in a alleging that only that she was abused, but that this was a vast

far-reachingng s sexual traffifg operation. amy: now, the whereabouts of maxwell, the daughter of robert maxwell, the media baron who used to own the new york daily ats who mysteriously died sea in the early 1990's,s, her whereabouts are not known right now. is that right? >> well, that has been reported. we have not confirmed that. but clearly, she is not in custody. now, in interesting detail that came o out to the time of mr. epstein's arrest or shortly thereafter was that two or three days after the miami herald broke it stores in november, mistrusting caught -- cut large chececks to two individuals who were included in the nonprosecution agreement from back in 2008.

surprising iss thth money wasas sentt to individuals for the purpose of buying their silence. i think that remains to be seen. that information has been kept close to t the vest b bfederal prosecutors. i will raise another point, theh is in the case of muelleler investigation,n, there were s sometimes people charargd with crimes and yet those charges were not revealed at the time thehe charges were levied r various reasons. is it possible to do some p peoe have alrlready been charged in connecection with ththe epsteine but t the fact of those charges have been held back because they were witnesses or because they have not been arrested yet? i think that is aa possibility and we should find out soon. amy: i want to turn to lisa bloom who represents two o of

jeffrey epstein's alleged victims. this i is bloom speaking on "morningng joy" on sasaturday. >> thihis is important timime fr victimims. they can still bring a civil case against his estate. we are on thehe verge of filing one. we have started out with my epstein clients working with law enforcement, cooperating with prosecutors in new york because we thought thahat wasas an impot first step. of course, with his death, the criminal case goes away but i wawant all victims to know t thy can still proceed ainst his estate. i amam calling today upon his esestate to freeze all of his assets and not disperse them and hold him so his v victims can gt full and f fair compensation for the lifefelong injuries he has causused them. i sat witith my clients and they have cried and talked about how their life was changed forever by thiss predatotor, , w they cd not trust men,n, how theirir self-esteem was shattered, how their sexual relationships were destroyed, how t their careers

were derailed. they deserve compensation. amy: that was lisa bloom who represents two of jeffrey epsteiein's alleged victims. casey frank, if you can respond to what she is saying and remind people the scope, the number of girls who have come forward -- now of course, women -- a and their estimated ages at the time they say they were abused by epstein or the people he gave them to. >> well, many of them say they were as young as 14 toto 16 yeas old. we know there were at least 80 alleged victims and probably many more. we know there are 80 because when julie brown started investstigating this case 10 yes after the fact, that is how many victims she was able to identify

and attempt to track down. now, many of them did not want to talk about their experience with mr. epstein, but if you did. and that is what broke open this case. and their courage is quite remarkable. what the attorney just said is very important and important to understand that a lot of what is known about jeffrey epstein is not known because of investigations by state attorneys were federal prosecutors. those investigatioions essentiay went nowhere. what brought out many of the facts about mr. epstein is lawsuits filed on behalf of of courageous women who felt that they needed to spepeak up even several years later now that they are adults. and yet, many of them have

traumad severe lasting and they will be deprived of their day in court with mr. epstein, but these lawsuits will continue, and they should, and thatat is how more facts are gog to come out about mr. epstein's activities. amy: and what about this new law that is going into effect in new york, the child victims act? the new law gives all past victims of child sex abuse a year to see their abusers regardless of how long ago the crime occurred. a flood ofct to see lawsuits a after wednesday? >> i don't know. i am n not very well-versed on that lawsuitit. i do know this. when the federal prprosecutor in new york filed charges last momonth, he made c clear that te criminal activity, the alleged

criminal activity took place not just in florida, but in new york and elsewhere. and so certainly, for those victims who wewere in neww yorkd were victimized in new york, it would seem that that law would apply in this case. you, whatmost shockcked came out on friday? casey frank, you been telling with this case for many months, these thousands of pages that have come out and then of course, you are interrupted in that as you analyze the death of jeffrey epstein. but in all of this this weekend, what must shocked you? >> i think what shocked me is this, their work 2000 pages of documents involving a person alleged to have h had operated a massive sexual trafficking operation. there are many more pages yet to come.

remember, these are pages that are coming out because of a lawsuit filed by the "miami herald" and this was just the start of that release. i think what surprised me is this, that a court system would see fit to seal this information in the f first place and that genuinely puzzles me because it feels to me like this is information that needs to be aired out, not c cap under wraps by any judge in any court. eramaybe in this #metoo we're seeing a shift in the attitude towarards such things. i understand that thee names and certainly agree that the names of victitims should be k kept activities the themselves need to be aired out. and the fact a judge in this keep allconvinceded to

of this under lock and key surprised me quite a bit. amy: casey frank, thank you for being with us senior ediditor fr , investigations at "the miami herald." helped lead the paper's coverage of jeffrey epstein. when we come back, we go to hong kong where the airport has been shut down as chaos and golf's the airport. thousands of pro-democracy protesters filled the travel have monday to protest police brutality. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "song of the halfway point" by mandate of heaven. this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. we turn now to hong kong, where all departing flights have been grounded as chaos engulfs the hong kong international airport, where thousands of pro-democracy protesters filled the airport monday to protest police brutality. many have left the airport fearing threats of more police action. the latest escalation follows a weekend of bloody clashes between the police and prprotesters. right police in a nenet private tear gas inside a subway station, filled beating protesters with batons as o.

police struck one woman in the eye with the project tell sparking outrage. this is a protesters speaking monday. >> hong kong has just seen its darkest we can in its contemporary history. we saw the station being turned into a gas chamber and protesters being pushed down the moving escalator with a a also d fired at protesters within a meter's range of an air gun. in northpoint, we saw civilians being attacked by members whose actions were supported by police. amy: her face was covered as she was speaking. this comes as beijing has escalated its rhetoric against the protesters is the chinese official say it shows signs of terrorism. weekend a hong kong airline

was ordered to suspend. it is been 10 weeks since master since demonstrations began. they asked for demonstrations began. they asked for the resignation of carrie lam and an investigation into police demons began. theyey asked f t the resignanatn ofarririe lam and anan investigatation into p police rl the against demonstratorors an pro-o-independenence reforms. pro-democracy activist and nobel peace prize nominee joshua wong tweeted monday -- "hundred thousands protestors gathered at hk international airport. we successful shut down the airport and force them cancel all flights. calls for democracy and free eleconon will nenever stop. we oppose #h#hkpolicestate!" for more, we go to hong kong where we're democracy now! describe what is happening now at the airport.

>> i was at the airport earlier for more, we go to hong kong where we're joined by mary hui, a reporter for the business news outlet quartz who's been covering the mass demonstrations for more than two months. mary hui, welcome back tot was completely packed with filling every single inch of the airport, arrivals and departures. they are peacefully and orderly sitting down or walking slowly around. chanting slogans, venting anger. the palpable anger that is brimming. there angry at the police of the brutality unleashed on sunday against protesters. ago, peopler started leaving the airport and marching on the road toward another town. the latest i see is the arrival hold is -- the crowds have dwindled. amy: explain the original reason theyhe protests and what

have now become, what the protesters are demanding.. to juneis all goes back 10 weeks ago now. all of this started when an extradition bill put forth by the hong kong government, which would have allowed citizens to be extradited to mainland china to face charges where they don't have any guarantees of a fair trial and where the rurule of lw , so that really took people out onto the streets to protest against dense. -- against this. the debates have evolved to include much broader demand's including setting up an independent commission to look into police misconduct. harking back to the umbrella movement of 2014. and more generally, government accountability. a lot of the anger now is directed against the police. a really did see a change and

shift in public opinion after this armed mob attack against civilians at a train station in late july. and reports that came out from that appeared to show that police were either colluding with the armed mobsters who perpetrated the attack or at least did not do enough to stop the attack. and that really got people o out and anangry because what were te police doioing if not protecting cititizens? anand then we had yesterday nig, the unleashing of somewhat horrific actions by the police as we saw on multiple occasions. and people have really rallied around this single hatred and frustration directed against the police. amy: we play that protester from the news conference today. her face covered, wearing sunglasses and a mask over her face. can you explain why she is covering her face?

ofa lot of people are afraid being identified. a lot of these rallies have not gained a letter of permission from the police and are technically illegal. powers toice have then charge people for unlawful assembly or writing. definedn how ritoing is under this line hong kong, it is a very big charge. you could be charged just passing by and being associated with people who are themselves carrying out violent acts. people are very afraid and worried. there's also the question of how much control china has now over hong kong's judiciary. hong kong is long prided itself on independent judiciary were the rule of law is watertight and solid and held up to

international standards. but i think more and more p peoe are worried, and rightly so, that the rule of law perhaps is being g chipped away and a more authoritarian way of doing things is being brought in to the city. amy: so the chinese government is talking about charging protesters with terrorism. can you explain the significance of this, mary hui? froms, the rhetoric various chinese officials has really ramped up over the last two weeks. they have described the protesters in one broad brush stroke and said they are all violent and radical. of course, from what we see on the ground, that is not true at all. the vast majority protesters are peaceful. the narrative the chinese government is try to put forward is all of these protesters are out to topple or looking to topple the regime, looking to challenge national sovereignty,

looking to challenge one country/two systems. as that has been ramped up, there has been talk of whether protesters are crossing the solid redline that china likes to put down. and so of course, there is worry there may be the possibility of troops from the people's liberation army being brought to hong kong. that has not been ruled out by china, though they have also placed their full faith and unwavering support behind the hong kong government and the hong kong police and told them to do whatever is necessary, to paraphrase them, to bring back social order -- social stability and lawn order. amy: what do you expect will happen in the airport now? are protesters afraid what the chinese government will do now that they have closed the airport? one of the busiest airports in the world?

>> speaking to several protesters at the airport this afternoon, i asked them the same question, what do they expect after next? a lot of them are feeling lost right now. they feel the government has not responded to any of their demands, that the difference andeen right and wrong justice completely toppled overnight. i expect the protests to continue and whatever shape or form. it is hard to protect given the protests themselves have been it t is hard d to say what exactly will happen in the next few days and weeks. but what is for sure is the simmering tensions and anger from the protesters are not going to go anywhere and they will have to be expressed one way or the other poster amy: reporting flights from hong kong airport will resume 6:00 a.m. tuesday.

do you believe that, mary? >> i think so. as protesters have decided they have made their statements, they have achieved what they said out to achieve -- which was to send a loud message to get the world to realize what it is the police have done and to bring some sort of disruption to the airport -- they have realized that it is time to backup also they probably learned the lesson from the upper limit in 2014 that if they continue to inconvenience people for too long, they start losing public support. five years on, i think that learned that lesson and realized once they have achieved the immediate goal, they can move on and go elsewhere. amy: mary hui, thank you for being with us hong-kong based , writer and reporter for the news outlet quartz. has been reporting on the extradition bill and covering the protests for over two months. whwhen we come back, we turn to the master mr. nations and russia were up to 60,000

protesters marched in moscow on saturday in the largest antigovernmentnt protest in yea. stay with us. ♪ [mumusic break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. we turn now to russia, where up to 60,000 protesters gathered saturday in the capital moscow in the largest demonstration the country has witnessed for years. although the protest was officially authorized, dozens of protesters were arrested. dozens were also arrested in protests in cities around russia. saturday's protest was organized to denounce the recent barring of opposition candidates from running in an upcoming election for the moscow city council. this is protester alexander kostyuk who was detained earlier this month. >> i wanted to read out toto the citizens the 31st clause in the constitution, to remind them that we have the right to gather peacefully and unarmed. at that momentnt, five law enenforcemenent officers jumpedn the from the back. one of them took the

constitution from me. four force into the ground and beat me up. amy: to talk more about the protests, we are joined now by nina khrushcheva, professor of international affairs at the new school. she is the co-author of "in putin's footsteps: searching for the soul of an empire across russia's eleven time zones." she is also the author of "the lost khrushchev: journey intnto the gulag of the russian m mind" she is the great-granddaughter of the former soviet union premier. can youushcheva, describe what is happening now in russia? >> something we did not expect to escalate so quickly because i got to moscow at the end of may. i want to the first protest against ththe detention of a journalist, investigative journalist, anticorruption investigative journalist at the beginning of june. and they were less than 1000 of us. there were quite a bit of information about this. moscowested

headquarters, the internal police headquarters. but it -- but we did not believe the next step would be just such a small thing g as a moscow city government election, the independent candidate would really bring the political crisis. it is not just the moscow political crisis taking place in russia right now, it is the russian political crisis because suddenly, something that seemed to be such an eventful -- uneventful thing as a moscow city election became the event that suddenly the whole russian police and all the branches of the russian police -- you see in the footage their people called cosmonauts in those black helmetets and russian guards and so on and so forth. suddenly, the kremlin took over because for the kremlin, the way i understand it, the way i see

it from a few thousand of the 60,000 that took place just this saturday people came out for the kremlin, this is if you allow the opposition to take over, the moscow city government, the next step of the kremlin. since putin for the last decade has run russia as this besieged fortress -- and it is not just against the west, but also from people that question his regime -- it then becomes a very scary proposition. suddenly, from a very small event of local elections, it becomes -- it became an anti-putin demonstration. so no surprise, police got in. and now it is the power ministries that are basically ,unning the show and saying look what happens. they're looking at hong kong because we of 60000 and hong kong has 200,000, many more than

200,000. they're looking at hong kong and i think they really decided nobody is going to pass through this and they're going to stand firm. and all of this democratic gain essentially is over, as i'm sure they feel. and i think the difficult but for all of us, and i'm going to moscow in a few weeks, basically missing this great awakening of we are dissidentship experiencing. the big question for us is how this regime is going to essentially become more stallionesque than it already has been. amy: you have waited for this moment for so long. can you talk about what this moment is, why it is so important? the country isf now being expressed toward putin

? >> i think it is a remarkable consequence of the comfofort, in manyny ways, the comfort putin brought to the country in the last 20 years. because rurussians have lived better than they have ever lived before under any regime. so in many ways, and we witness did in 2011 when putin announced he is going to be president again of people said, wait a minute, , i want to choose my president and you're not my choice. so now we just experiencing the next step of it because one of the results of the 2012 protests were the government decided we're going to make life even more comfortable. if you travel to moscow, probabably one should before the borders get closed, it is an incredibly comfortable city. it is more european than europe. it is like the st. petersburg of the 17th century, more european than europe.

so they made it so people would not protest. they made this humongous sidewalk so we leisurely walk around. so instead of that, people went to the streets. i think in many ways, for me, and i expected it t for at least 10 years, for me the moment is it is a great ananatomy of how power exhausts itself. and it does better because it makes people more comfortable. but ultimately, people asked for the change of power because in many places -- and i did travel across russia two years ago -- and many places it is not that they dislike putin, they are incredibly tardive -- tired of him. i think in this sense, that kremlin power has exhausted its potential. amy: and who are the leaders of this movement? >> i think that is a remarkable part. it does not have the leaders.

the anticorruption lawyer alexi novotny who is been leading russssian opposition for many -- asnow, for some years i call it, he is pre-arrested every time when the demonstrations take place. but i think what is important now, and that reminds me of 1991 more than anything when the soviets went to the street and said, we don't want to be controlled b bthe sovietet kremlin, by the hard-line kremlin anymore. people go to the street b becaue they are fed up. they are tired. they want to have more dignity. they want to have a say in those comfortable cities that putin made or putin's p people made. they want to have a a say in wht can a politics they have. and that is why i call a rather thanp opposition because i it is not n opposition movement. it is a movement of people who are tired of the same system and what its renewal. amy: nina khrushcheva, thank you

for being with us professor of , international affairs at the new school here in new york. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

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