05/29/20 05/29/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from nenew york city, the epicenter of the pandemic in the united states, this is democracy now! >> that video is graphic and horrific and terrible and no person should do that. but my job is to prove there is -- there is evidence that doeoes not support a crimil charge.

amy: thousands take to the streets of minneapolis as protests against the police killing of george floyd rock the city for the third night in a row after prosecutors say they are not sure yet if they will criminally charge derek chauvin, the white police officer who pinned george floyd -- neal dunn george floyd snack as he gasped "i can't breathe." we'll go to minneapolis to speak with city councilmember jeremiah ellison, who had a police gun pointed at his head in 2015 when he was peacefully protesting another killing of an another african american man, jamar clark. we'll also speak with kandace montgomery with the city's black visions collective, which is calling for the abolition of police. then, as the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic shifts to latitin americica, so, too, doee use of covid-1-19 as a pre for -- preretext f for police repression.

hooks people are detained illegally for 45 days. we are authohorities to free us. at a report bylook amnesty international and go to san salvador. president trump calls people thugs. twitter flags h his tweet with a warning and glorifies violence just as trump signs an executive order to punish socialal media companies for how they monitor content. all that and more, coming up. welcome to d democracy now!, demomocracynow.o.org, the quarae report. i'm amy goododman. thousands took to the streets sf minneaeapolis thursday as protes against the killing of an african american man by a white police officer rocked the city for the third night in a row. demonstrators set fire to the minneapolis police department's third precicinct just hours aftr prosecutors said they're not sure yet if they will criminally charge derek chauvin, the white

police officer who pinned george floyd to the ground by his neck for eight minutes whwhile floyd gaspsped for a.. in aideo thahahas nobeenen seen around the rld, flo repeatedly gasps "i can't breathe." four officers, including chauvin, have since been fired but not arrested. on thursday, hennepin county attorney mike freeman was questioned about the delay in charging and arresting the officers. >> that video is graphic and horrific and terrible and no person should do that. but my job in the end is to prove that he violated a criminal statute, and there is other evidence that does not support a criminal charge. amy: minnesota governor tim walz called in the national guard overnight as protests raged in minneapolis and st. paul. this morning, minnesota state police arrested cnn correspondent omar jimenez, along with his producer and camera crew, live on national television outside the charred

remains of the third police precinct. minnesota governor tim walz later apologized to cnn over the arrests and the crew was released. after headlines, we will go to minneapolis fofor the lalatest. around the united states, thousands ofof people e took toe streets to protest the police killing of george floyd. here in new york, police arrested at least 70 people during a rolling protest that began in manhattan's union square. in colorado, police fired tear gas and pepper balls at protesters who gathered at the state capitol in denver. one protester was intentionally rammed by a driver who plowed their suv into a crowd of demonstrators. in arizona, police declared an unlawful assembly thursday and fired tear gas and pepper spray at hundreds who gathered at phoenix city hall. in louisville, kentucky, hundreds of protesters gathered downtown demanding justice for breonna taylor, a 26-year-old aspiring nurse who was shot to death by police inside her own

apartment in march. at least seven people were injured by gunfire that erupted as demonstrators surrounded a police vehicle. it's not known who fired the shots. the louisville's mayor said no police officers fired their weapons. on twitter, president trump attacked minneapolis's mayor, who called for the arrest of now-fired police officer derek chauauvin over the killing of georgege floyd. trump tweeted -- "i can't stand back & watch this happen to a great american city, minneapolis. a total lack of leadership. either the very weak radical left mayor, jacob frey, get his act together and bring the city under control, or i will send in the national guard & get the job done right. " in a follow-up tweet, trump attacked protesters as "thugs" and added "when the looting starts, the shooting starts." twitter responded by labeling trump's tweet with the warning --

"this tweet violated the twitter rules about glorifying violence. however, twitter has determined that it may be in the public's interest for the tweet to remain accessible." on thursday, president trump signed an executive order that could be used to punish social media companies, including twitter, for how they monitor content. thisis comes after twitttter tok the unprecedented step o of addg a fact check label to two tweets in which trump erroneously attacked mail-in voting. mark zuckerberg defended his companies -- company's refusal to regulate misinformation, including false and deceptive political advertisements. zuckerberg spoke with cnbc. >> i don't think facebook or internet platforms in general should be arbiters of truth. i think that it's kind of a dangerous line to get down to in terms of d deciding what is true and what isn't. amy: later in the broadcast, more of president trump'p's

attacks on social m media with ucla profefessor ramamesh srinin . the u.s. labor d dartment repoported another 2.1 million woworkers filed for r unemployot benetsts ovethe e la week,k, bringing t t totalf job loes sinccororonarus lolodowns ben in m mid-mch t to stagring 40.7 millio one inour u.s.orkers h lo their j in just 10 week thinstitutfor poli studies rerts thaturing thsame riod, thcombinedealth of s. billiaires soar by $485 billion. cafornia rorded itlargeses one-y jump in coronaruss casesince thpandemicegan, wi over 26 new inftions rerted thuday. californ passed e grim milestone of 100,000 confirmed cacases this week, a as santa ca county health h officer dr. sara cody, who issued the nation's first shelter-in-place order in march, warned california is reopening its economy too quickly. meanwhile, public health officials in san frarancisco say

the cororonavirus pandemic has indirectly led to a spike in the deaths of unhoused people. since the end of march, at least 48 unhoused people have died in the city, up from 14 people during the same period last year. dr. rupa marya of the do no harm coalition said -- "these excess deaths i see as covid deaths, whether or not they were from the virus or from the complete failure of the covid response from the city. they were deaths that would not have happened otherwise." meanwhile, coronavirus cases are surging in southern states including arkansas, alabama, and mississippi. the increases came even as politico reported health departments around united states have inflated testing numbers or deflated death tallies by changing criteria for who counts as a coronavirus victim and what counts as a coronavirus test. in pennsylvania, a democraticc state legislator has accused some of his republican colleagues of covering up their covid-19 status and potentially putting other lawmakers at risk.

a video of state representative brian sims talking about the situation has gonene viral. >> first of all, the speaker of the house needs to resign. and any member of leadership that has known what was going on -- any member of republican leadership that and that members were testing positive, thahat other members were being ququarantined, andnd did not tel those of us werere e exposed to those membmbers needs to o be invevestigateded by the attorney general. i think there needs t tbe prosecututions. amy: in n immigration news, advocates across the country are continuing demands to release all people from immigration and customs enforcement jails as confirmed coronavirus cases inside these jails in the u.s. near 1400. immigrant rights advocates led protests outside immigration jails in california and washington state thursday. in burlington, massachusetts, advocates replaced the ice flag at the agency's boston field office with a new flag that read "ice kills. free them all." another national day of action is planned for today.

meanwhile 30-year-old , a undocumented mexican immigrant who sued immigration and customs enforcement two weekeks ago anand was later quiy deported by the agency has officially been declared missing. hector garcia mendoza was part of a class-action lawsuit demanding the immediate release of all immigrants held at the elizabeth contract detention facility in new jersey, where prisoners and staff have tested positive for covid-19. gothamist reports four days later and without notice, garcia mendoza was transferred to laredo, texas, where he was then escorted into the notoriously dangerous border town of nueva loredo, mexico. garcia mendoza reportedly hasn't reached out to his family in mexico o or the unitited states. his lawywys have c contacteded shshelters in mexico and immmmit advocacy groups in texas, but no one has reportedly seen or heard from him. his family is also concerned for garcia mendoza's health as in the days leading up to his removal, he complained of chest pain and shortness of breath but did not receive any medical attention from ice. mendoza's removal came despite a federal judge's order blocking

the deportation. advocates believe his expedited deportation is retaliation for the lawsuit against ice. garcia mendoza had been living the uniteted states foror 10 years. in iowa, tyson foods says it will halt operations at its storm lake meat processing plant after over 550 workers, or more than 20% of the workforce, tested positive for coronavirus. buena vista county, where the plant is located, has the highest per capita infection rate of covid-19 in iowa. in california, over 200 workers at eight los angeles-area meat and food processing plants have tested positive for covid-19. john grant, president of united food and commercial workers local 770, which represents the meatpackers, called on smithfield foods to close its farmer john plant near downtown los angeles. is ovover 10% of the workfoforce and itit is dangerous. the problem with this is it is

invisible, insidious, and deadly. what we do is whwhen a sharkrk n the water, you pull everybody out of the water and uss what is going on. am in april, president trump invoked the defense production act to order meatpacking plants around the united states to remain open. the plants are home to many of the largrgt coronavivirus hotsps in the united states. dozens of covid-19 deaths are tied to meat factories. brazil registetered a record number of covid-19 cases ththursday, withth more than 1 0 deaths in just 24 hos.s. brazil is second only to the united states in infections and deaths, as far-right president jair bolsonaro has sought throughout the pandemic to undermine remain-at-home measures taken by state and local governments. despite this week'k's surge in covid-19 cases, the mayor of sao paulo,o, the western hemisisph's largest city, is allowing nononessential businesses, including offices, shopping malls, and car dealerships, to reopen beginning june e 1. in haiti, local social justice and human rights groups are

warning of prisoners could be at hundreds risk of dying of covid-19 as infections are quickly spreading inside haiti's prisisons. "t"the miami herald" repeports t least t 11 prisoneners at the nationonal penitentiary in port-au-prince have already tested positive, and many others are presenting symptoms such as fevers. but haitian human rights groups believe the number of infections is far higher as prisons are overcrowded, with scarce food supplies or essential medication, and up to 80 prisoners are reportedly often crammed shoulder-to-shoulder inside filthy cells without ventilation. the united states has faced criticism for deporting haitians who have tested positive for the coronavirus. the t trump adminisistration has announced plplans to cancel the visas of thousands of chinese graduate students studying in the united states. the move would impact students who have studied at schools that have links to the chinese military. republican lawmakers are also proposing to bar all chinese graduate students from coming to -- studying science or technology in the united states. many educators have warned the

moves could lead to a new red scare on american campuses. meanwhile, britain is considering offering a path to citizenship for over 300,000 residents of hong kong if china moves ahead with i implementinga new national security law on the formrmer british colony. in news from capitol hill, democrats have pulled a bill to reauthorize parts of the foreign intelligence surveillance act after members of the congressional progressive caucus and the republicican minority formed an unlikely coalition opposing the legislation. president trump had threatened to veto the bill which would have extended foreign intelligence surveillance act until 2023. and in more fallout from the coronavirus pandndemic, the next major round of the u.n. climate change talks has been pushed back a full year to november 2021. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the ququarante report. i'm amy goodman. thousands took to the streets of

minneapolis s thursday as protes against the police killing of george floyd rocked the city for the third night in a row. demonstrators set fire to a police precinct just hours after prosecutors said they were not sure yet if eyey would crininallyharge dek k chaun, the itite poce o offer whoho pinnedfrican american n george floyd to e e grou byy his ckck forightht mutes while floygasped f a air. in aidideo tt t has w been seen arod the wod, floyd repeated gps "i c't brthe." the offirs, incling chaun, fo have sie been fed but not arreed. thursda hennepicounty attorneyike freen was questied abouthe delayn chargi and arrting the office involvein the kling of george floyd. graphic ando is horrific and terrible and no person should do that. but my job in the end is to prepay violated a criminal statute, and there is other

evidence that does not support a criminal charge. we have to do this right. we have to prove it in a court of law. i will just point to you the comparison to what happened in baltimore in the grey case. it was a rush to charge, a rush to justice, and all those people were found not guilty. i will not rush to justice. i'm going to do this right. and those folks who know me in the african community know i will do my very level best, but i will not rush justice because justice cannot be rushed. amy: george floyd's murder sparked an uprising in minneapopolis as some protesters lit fires and destroyed buildidg fronts. solidarity actions brought thousands to the streets in los angeles, phoenix, denver, and columbus, ohio. in louisville, kentucky, at least seven people were shot while protesting the police killing of a black woman, breonna taylor 26-year-old , a aspiring nurse who was shot to death by police inside her own apartment in march.

gunfire erupted as demonstrators surrounded a police vehicle thursday night. it is unclear who fired the shots. back in minnesota, governor tim walz called in the national rage in mass protests st. paul and minneapolis. on twitter, president trump violence against protesters, calling them "thugs" and threatening "when the looting starts, the shooting starts." twitter responded by labeling trump's suite, warning -- "this tweet violated the twitter rules about glorifying violence. however, twitter has determined that it may be in the public's interest for the tweet to remain accessible." in another tweet, trump attacked minneapolis's mayor, who's called for the arrest of now-fired police officer d derek chauvin over the killing of george floyd. which the mayor called murder. gwen carr, the mother of eric garner, traveled to minneapolis and spoke at a vigil thursday at

the spot where george floyd was killed. >> as you know, this happened to me almost six years ago. up anys is just opening old wound, pouring salt into it. they keep coming into the -- the police officers come into our neighborhood. terrorize,ize, they they murder our children, and we have done nothing. amy: protests in minneapolis are ongoing. this morning, minneapolis police arrested cnn correspondent omar jimenez, along with his producer and camera crew, live on national television. they were outside the charred remains of the third police precinct. and a soda governor tim walz later apologized to cnn over the arrests. the crew was released and omar was reporting on the streets an hour and a half later.

today's "star tribune" reads "the state of agony." this short excerpt of the damning video of the officer ofh his knee on the neck george floyd. this is a warning. this is extremely graphic and violent. we are only showing that to show the extreme nature of what has happened. you got his feet righonon his neck, officer. >> i cannot breathe. >> tough guy, huh? he is noeven resisting aest. heain't d dng nothis. am for me, we're joineby twguests. kandace montgomemery, executivee director of black vivisions collective, a black-led queer- and trans-centntering community ororganization based i in the tn cities in minnesota.

and jeremiah ellison minneapolis , city council member. jeremiah, let's begin with you. can you respond everything that has taken lace, beginning with that video that authorities do not want people to see, some of the authorities, though the mamayor himself a minneapolis hs called the killing of george floyd by the police ofofficer murder? >> i think the mayor is absolutely right on that point. i think it was m murder. ii think that is evidence from the video. not only on officer chauvin's part, but i think t the three officecers aidining him in the murder of gegeorge floyd should also face charges for whatt transpired, what happened. minneapapolis in a state of unrest. anand while the prorotests might

be unfololding i in the way i wd persononally likike, i think our respsponse, the policece respono protesters, has been so brutal, especially early o on, beforee ththings were violent. respspding in a a way that was o brututal, it is hard for meme ty we have any y more ground to std on when it comes to those calls for peace that i've seen from some of my colleagues. amy: some people may have been wondering from seeing this video where the other two officers are. you have chauvin with his knee on the neck of george floyd, you have taou,pparently something like 18 -- chvin has 18 complaints, tau has six. new deo has surfacedf the otother o officers holdin down gege floyd, right next to tt behind the polic car, o-- rit next tchauvin. >> yeah.

i thinkhey are comicit in this mder athe other -the rst two ficers. i tnk they ed to beeld accountable r that. the four. how is it possible that they have not been arrested yet. we're not talking about convicted or tried, but you look at what happened with george floyd himself. he was being arrested by police. that happened suddenly. yet after days of this video being outcome even in the case of ahmaud arbery, the authorities did not want that video out. they had it for months. it is the horror of authorities went video like this get out but within a few days of it getting out, the retired officer and his son and another person involved

were charged with murder. what is happening in minneapolis and what do you make of the hennepin county attorney -- my can n saying they may be exonerating evidence? completelyit is inappropriate. i think the video is self-evidedent. i think itit is in the district attorney's hands and he nds t to move forward with what we are seeing in that video. if he wants to sort of pass on that duty to other state law enforcement, i think he should do that. but i think that every day we delay justice, we potentially are denying justice and i think the public certainly feels that way and you are seeing thahat in the p protests. amy: i want to bring kandace montgomery into this conversationon. you are with the minneapolis organization black visions.

talk about what you're demanding most of have you been in the streets? can you respond to what is happening? and can you describe for us when you first saw this v video? >> thank you for havaving me on. right n now black visions a as l , andher communinity members for t the last severaral years,e been calling on our cityty counl invest in commmmunity led safefety solutions. we want justice for george floyd and we know justice is not enough. defund is the time to the police investment in community. i was on the streets not last night, but the night before, for some time. i was with my dad who is reallly vulnerable to o covid-19 so i've had to figure out w ways to keep myself safafe so i can still cae for him. but i was there witnessing the

rebellioion being led by young black k and brown folks. upon seeing the video, i have not really watched the full video. i have honestly seen enough of those. but the murder did happen to blocksks from my home. it is my regular corner deli. amy: describe any s saw the vid. i want to ask you and councilmember allison about the showing of the video. we are seeing ththe fires repeatedly, but what has ,rovoked it, this horrirific fim how do yoyou feel a about it beg shown onon televisision? complicatednk i have feelings. i think it is really y important that espececially people who o e not b black, who do not live in the terror and violence of police d department's across the country and across the globe on

a dadaily basis really need t te the hardrd truth that black kids grow up with and that black basis.see on a regular as well as think it is concerning the ways we are so willing to broadcast black deaths and how we are actually honoring t those folks that we e losing. so i feel mixed about i i i ththink there arare many benes to being able to see t the -- te - -- vidideos have mobililized and activateted commununity members and have led to real change. ellison, yourmember thoughts? >> i think i share simimilar thoughts. on an emotional level, i never want t to see someone's lalast moments, especially when n the'e there their l last moments,

is an attempt t to deny the dignity such as s the case with george f floyd. i never want to see that show to the public, but o often it is te emergency -- the emergence of these videos that gives us a chance to prove justice. amy: i want to go back to a few years ago and ask about the killing of 24-year-olold african-american jamar clalark, november 2015. during a protest at the fourth precinct, police station, and a officer dressed in fatigues and carrying what appears to be a gas launching gun pointed his weapon at you as you stood with your hands up -- at the time he had long dregs. by "start was captured tribune" and then your dad, congress member keith ellison, now attorney general of minnesota, tweeted writing " photo is agonizing for me to see. my son is peacefully protesting with hands up.

officer shouldering gun, why? he spoke about it on [ [captiong made possible by democracy now!] reaction whwhen i saw the picture of jeremiah was horror. i would gladly face whatever dangers were necessary but to have my said have to face it is another thing. he's a 24-year-old guy. as a strong passion for justice. he is a professional artist. needs hist think he dad worrying about him like that but i can't help it. i remember when he was just a little boy and now he is a grown man. i'm a little proud that he feels this burning desire to stand up for what is right and to make a better society. yes, that picture was very disturbing. we're not going to let it sit there. to shoulder a weapon like that at nonviolent protesters is outrageous. decency.iolation of

we are going to find out whether it is -- ellison, is keith former congressmember, first muslim member of congress, now the attorney general of minnesota. jeremiah, at the time you were protesting at the fourth precinct. can you talk about this arc of your life from standing in the streets protesting of the police killing of jamar clark to now being a city councilmember and you aree protesting a a simililr killining? >> what i think is really interesting about the last couple of years since that incident occururred, i showed up as a neighbor. my dad mentitioned i am an artr. i grip in the neighborhood that now represents. i was nonot one ofof the organis of the e event. andace was one of the main organizersrs who is really h hog

it down n and someone i i sought guidance from at the fourth precinct occupation. always beenile i hahave invovolved in polilitics and als have hadad this desire to o pure justice, that eventnt really politicizezed me in a majojor wy and made me e realize t that wed leaders to be more creative, more bolold in pursuing and entering that kind of thing doesn't happen. amy: i want to ask both of you, starting with kandace montgomery, what you're demanding right now. the four officers have been fired but they have not been charged. you demanding happen to thehem? an overall come arouound the ise of police brbrutality? >> right now we are really honing in on t the dimension, or the city council to defund the police. we went justice for george floyd and we think accountability with the officers is really necessary

and too often we lean on that accountability and feed more into our prison system that continues to be harmful to all of our communities, so now is the time for the minneapolis city council and the mayor to defund the police and invest in community. as well we are calling for the minneapolis police department to acknowledge the harm of their institution in the ways it has violated the dignity and rights of black communities and families. make an official apology. then continue ththe work. you, tamikaalso ask mallory and others have been warning people about provocateurs on the streets.s. i'm wondering your thoughts on this? >> absolutely. i think that iss always a real issue. we know the history of co-intel pro and other state led interventions to quiet and quell

blood organizing and rebellion. so i think it is very important that folks who are on the streets are being weary of who is actually aligned with the values and the reasons why they are out there and who is not. amy: finally, your final response, jeremiah, also with the cnn whole camera crew being arrested. they were there when there were no police at the fires early this morning around 4:00 or 3:00 and then showed the local police moving in. and before they even landed on the ground getting out of their police cars, they were tear gassing people who were on the sidewalk. cnn was showing all of this. himself wasjimenez handcuffed and taken in and he himself when he came outside, he understood the reason he is out on the street now is because the images were shown of him being arrested as he reasonably said,

? to do you want us to do the state patrol who have moved in. >> i think it is inexcusable. not only what happened to the cnn crew, but at the begininning of this protest, there werere protesters who w were being sprayed with mace, unprovoked by our officers. some of our city leadadership has struguggled to clarify whether officers s are this is partor if of thehe plan. i know i called that into question was that i have demanded we take a different hasoach and that demand sort of fallen on deaf ears. councilmember -- you had josh campbell, the white cnn reporter not arrested, narrating what was happening to the reporter of color of cnn omar jimenez.

but finally, president trump calling the protesters thugs and then saying "when the looting starts, the shooting starts"? his tweet in flag with the itting by twitter saying encourages violelence. your r respoe e to the presisidt of thehe united states? wei i am ready to make sure keep the residents of minneapolis safafe. that includes from the presidident. the w w protests unfold -- [indiscernible] day, he isd of the talking about shooting and killing peoeople, citizens, residents of f our city. i think it is completely inappropriate. amy: jeremiah ellison, , thank u forr beingng with us, city councilmember ofof minneneapoli. anand kandace montgogomery, executivive director of blblack

visions cocollective, a black-ld queer- and trans-centering community organization based in the twin cities in minnesosota. nextxt up is the epicecenter ofe coronavirus pandemic shifts to latin america, so, too, d does e use of covid-19 as a pretext for policece repression.n. we w will look at at a new amney international repoport. stay witith us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. as the epicenter o of thee coronavirus pandemic shifts to lalatin america, so, too, does e use of covid-19 as a pretext for police repression. a new report by amnesty international details the increasing use of arbitrary, punitive, and violent tactics in latin america and the caribbean as governments enforce coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions. in el salvador, hundreds of people detained in government facilities, allegedly aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus, have protested to

demand to be freed and be given the results of their covid-19 tests. this is a group of people who say they have been held in one of san salvador's quarantine detention centers for over 45 days. this footage was published last week by a central american human rights organization. >> we are people who are detained illegally for 45 days. we are asking authorities to free us. yet been tested for the coronavirus four times and tested negative, but authorities still say there is a covid-19 positive person among us, which is false. it isand to see how possible to o have a positive person when we have been detained for 45 days. amy: well, for more, we go to san salvador where we're joined by jorge cuellar, assistant professor of latin american, latino, and caribbean studies at dartmouth college. he traveled to el salvador in late february to continue resesearch for h his book and iw on lockdown in the capital san salvadad with his s parents. his recent article for revista:

harvard review of latin america is headlined "el salvador's two pandemics: maximum insecurity." also with us in mexico city is louise tillotson, researcher for amnesty international americas and co-author of their new report titled "authorities must protect people from covid-19 instead of resorting to repressive measures." jorge cuellar, described what is happening in n el salvador. >> thanank youu for invnviting o the program, amy. what we're seeing in san salvador and el salvador more broadly is the use of the pandemic in order to keep people in their homes and forced mililitarized lockdowns and to ensure the non-spreading of the cororovirus. what a strange about w what is going on is the president has offered very littltle clarity ad transparent information as to what happened in quarantines as the clip you shared just mentioned. there are things going on n the, people receiving poor treatmemet

with non-hygienic conditions -- broken restrooms, for example -- and overcrowded conditions that are creating a very tense situation within the quarantines that have even led to hunger byikes and protests individuals. amy: i want to turn to another clip of a a group of men who say they have been illllegally detained at one of san salvador's so-called containment centers for over 45 days. this footage was published last week by a central american human rights organization. one of the men in the group speaks of the conditions inside. >> we don't have supppplies whih we have beenen asking for for days. alcohol,s like water,, gel, soap.

already arriving is rotten, causing stomach problems. amy: jorge cuellar, if you can talk overall about the government and its use of covid-19, how it is using it as a pretext for political repression. >> so the story of the quarantine really begins back in february where president nayib bukele stormed the national legislative assembly in order to push for an anti-crime bill called the territorial control plan. this was one of the first instances when the government started to antagonize other institutions of government and create a sort of situation where unilateral decision making became sort of the norm. takes holdronavirus in central america, bukele used this moment in order to sort of double down n on those things he

had been pushing for prior. so within the situation of the pandemic, these different sanitary measures that he has taken in order to safeguard the lives of salvador people have come with the increasing number of military and police forces on the ground that have created a series of checkpoints all over the country, as well as kind of creating a certain climate of aremidation for people who seeking to do their daily errands, to go to the pharmacy, to do the grocery runs with this kind of idea, given the history of the country and the tense situation among security forces and the general population, that they run the risk of going -- being sent one of these quarantines as the clip mentions come are in complete disrepair. and there is a likelier chance that one will be infected the

coronavirus within these containment centers and justt staying and remainining home. amy: let me bring louise tillotson into the conversation, one of the researchers on this new amnesty international read or called "authorities must protect people from covid-19 instead of resorting to repressive measures." as you look at what is happening in latin america, talk about what you're seeing not onlyly in el salvador, but around the region. >> thank you. at amnesty i international, we started seeing incidents of repression in the context of covid-19 with h digital verificatitions, even researches a few w days after l lockdowns were put in a across the region. in seven dayays, we document at some 16 the distances of repression in a number of countries. we saw four issusues most detention being usedd to enforce lockdowns consultant places like

the dominican republic to date we've seen some 60,000 people detained. the videos show people are simply rounded up and put in the back of police trucks without physical distancing measures. [indiscernible] needsafeguards one would when usually people are being detained. we have also saw any videos of humiliating and degrading treatment by the police. one of the things that started to emerge in the videos we saw from across s the region was the police punishing people with these humiliating tactics of getting them to do jumping jacks and forced group exercise and sometimes using tasers on them. we also saw indications [indiscernible] excessive use of force for tople processing for access food and other basic needs. places like venezuela, we saw

indigenous communities protesting in need of food and repression being used against them. hearing in the videos that you showed, in many countries in a salvador and venezuela but also other central american countries and in paraguay, we are seeing this phenomenon of mandatory quarantine and inhumane conditions, as you describe, where people donon't havave basc sanitation and peoplple are not tested. so all of the videos that we looked at indicate first that people living poverty, hohomeles people, migrants, anand refugees are much more likely to be impacted by y these punitive measures. so we'e're seeing covid-19, like other papandemics before it,t, magngnify the structuture discriminanation. sadly, it is often the most marginalized that of the first targets of these punitive responses. amy: louise tillototson, where u are in mexico city, mexico, what

has been the response of amlo? seenrere in mexico, we have softer lockdowown than other pas of the region in the sense we have not seen messed up a police and military to enfnforce it. t tomass police and military enfoforce it. we have seen things that a are concerning.. our ma focusus has been the issue of violence against women. there is anotherer epipidemic in latin america and that is -- holds true here in mexico and that is s violence against wome. just in m march before e the lockckdown, stay-a-at-home ordes were put in place, tens ofof thousands of women here in mexico took to the streets demanding the authorities do more about them aside and domestic v vlence. is the numbereen of calls to hotlines for domestic violence spiked significantly.

we have not seen leaeadership fm the president on these issusues. wewe have called o on the authorities in these difficult times to make sure they provide enough resources to protect survivors of gender-based violence. amy: i want to go back to jorge cuellar. the sasalvador president bukele authorize police to use lethal force against allegeged gang members following a spate of homicides allegedly linked to gang activity. authorities said more than 50 people were murdered in a single weekend after imprisoned sususpected gagang members alley ordered the killings from behind bars. shocking images, many of which were shahared on bukele's own twititter account, show prisones crammed together, with only some wearing face masks, as prisons enforce -- we will show a photograph. it is unbelievable -- around-the-clock lockdown on suspected gang members, which includes putting metal sheets

over prison bars a and housing prisoners from rival gangs in the same overcrowded cells. you have these images of lifife 1000 men with each of them in the legs of the one before stuff we will show that image again. if you could respond to this, the video? image and those videos of that day are destructive of what is happening in the country where there is security initiative taking place during the coronavirus pandemic. what we sesee in thesese imagess there e is clearly no way that agile distancing can happen within the decrepit and elgeon-like prison system in salvador in these men, like you noticed from have very little protection on. these images, what they did, how they function in society, they demonstrated to the country that, indeed, the security initiative that bukele has set

into motion has been effective at curtailing the violence against gangs. the what we see with this kind of homicide spike that happened in late april was that the territorial control that the government thinks they have achieved is actually quite fragile and perhaps not true. t tensionng kind of between gangs in the state is something ththat has also been historically present in different administration that have often used images of gang member humiliation to push this idea that punitive measures are the only option to correct the most undesirable elements of salvadoran society. but what we see here is this overwhelming dehumanization of these people who are now under this idea that putting them together in the same cell and shutting them off from even

as thethe sunlight director of the penal system not going toreally solve the problem long-term. amy: lououise tillotson, at thte epicenter of the global pandemic shifts from united states to latin america, what are you calling for? what is amnesty international calling for on the authorities around the issue of police repression using covid-19 as a pretext? thiswe arare concerned by creeping repression that we are seseeing. international l human rights law countries can take measures to protect public health, , but say in a region where we saw excessive force by the police consistently in 2019, including during states of emergency, used

as a way to repress, we are worried. governments have extraordinary power in the current context. covid-19 presents us with huge challenges. but measures that governments take, including mandatory quarantine and e enforcement of lockdowns,s, need to be necessay anand proportionate. because beyond thehe fact t thee measures can be repressisive and violate a n number of human rights, theyey also stand t to undermine prevention efforts. so when people are detained en masse like in the dominican republic or put in these obligatory mandatory quarantine like we have seen in el salvador and venezuela and paraguay, they can't physically distant i'm a that is cut or productive to all of our efforts. so we have launched a campaign called repression is not protection. we will be monitoring states to ensure they don't overreach or abuse their powers and continue represessing in the name of cov.

amy: louise tillotson, thank you for being with us amnesty , to national americas. we will link to your report "authorities must protect people from covid-19 9 instead of resorting to repressive measures." and thank you professor jorge cuellar,. article "el to your salvlvador's s two pandemics: maximum insecurity." president trump hahas issued an executive order after twitter deletes one of his tweets most up now has flagged another saying it is promoting violence. they did not delete it, but they tweet was promoting misinformamation. stay with us. ♪ [ [music brbreak]

amy: t this is d democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. on thursday, president trump signed an executive order that didirects federal agencies to clarify the scope of a law known as section 230, which protects internet companies from liability for illegal l content posted by users and lets them remove legal, but objectionable posts. critics say the order could be used to punish social media companies for how they monitor content. this comes as trump attacked civilians protesting the police killing of george floyd in minneapolis, calling them thugs and inciting violence by saying "when the looting starts, the shooting starts." twitter responded by labeling trump's tweet with the warning -- "this tweet violated the twitter rules about glorifying violence. however, twitter has determined

that it may be in the public's interest for the tweet to remain accessible." this comes after twitter on tuesday took the unprecedented step of adding a fact-check label to two tweets in which the president of the united states erroneously attacked mail-in voting.. for more, we gogo to los angeles for we are joined by ramesh srinivivasan professor in n the , department of f informrmation studies and d design director at the university of california los angeles, or ucla, where he also directs the digital cultures lab. can you talk about what twitter has done and w what this execute order r means? > absolututely. such an honor r to join you, a . trump p and twitter are very strange bedfellows. trtrump has long extolled triggr another sosocial medias is s hiy of reaeaching the people. hehe has over r million twitter followerers. and it particular case, we sesee trtrump been personally y affrod by twitter actuaually enacting

something that it warned as i it would do, which is actually labebeling some of trump's twee. that is not t a violation of his freedom m of speecech. that is labeleling his tweets because t they are indeed misleading.. trtrump has proper throrough hie of social mediaia and attention hoarding algororithms to basicay diss in and misinform people. , conspiracyr reported theories and the politicization for example of the coronavirus are all occurring online algorithmically in ways that support trump's a agenda. amy: the american civil liberties union tweeted -- "the president has no authority to rewrite a congressional statute with an executive order imposing a flawed interpretation of section 230. section 230 incentivizes platforms to host all sorts of content without fear of being held liable. it enables speech, not censorship." and jameel jaffer, globe

univerersity, tweeted -- whatever else this executive order may be, it is not a a good faith effort t to protect free speech onlnline." ramesh srininivasan? > absolutely. however, what trump has done iss actually raised a question that i think we all neneed to get araround, which is realllly the ququestion of how it is our onle media companies, whichch are the gateways t to all things journalistichave beenn a able to get away w with simply publishig all of t this content. they are publishers anand their monetizing all sortsts of journalismsm without any oversit or r regulatory activivity. that is why it is extremely important to intervene on every level possible for the public interest, particularly at a time of pandemic, to ensure that public interest and an internet funded by publicc money, where the prophetsts andomeone havave been privatitized. i think it is important that we revisit section 230 a and the imagee o of people's intererestn public power.

otheherwise we see t these conspiracy theorieies thatat are politicizing situation where 100,000 people h have dieied ant really allowing us to come together in the way we really, really need to as americans and people across the world. amy: "the new york times" ran an most of is trump himself benefited from the section 230 policy? also, if you can talk about the lawsuit that tech companies could bring g and what this s al meanans, especially as we lelead into thihis election in novembe, if in fact it tatakes placece? >> these are h huge issues that are occurrrring here. again and again and again was the bibig tech basically, , likg pharma and other corporate initiatives in a america, babasically make a a great amouf money off the babacks of americn and publblic taxpayers and privatize alall the profits. as they engage in n their own

private unaccountable abuses, ththe costs re: socialized unto us. that iss why i've called for didigital bi of f rights.. as we approachched 2020, it isis important wewe recogninize tru's entire digital strategy game, can n see it with his campaign manager, will fundadamentally focus with online, specifically on facebook, hundreds of millions of dollarars p pentialy will be e put into the digital ecosystem. what is that going to do? hey verily micro-target people. we will be susubject to out rhythms for r our attention - -e will be subject to i'i'm rhythms fofor our attention. what we really need to do is inintervenee here and evevery mr popossible. amy: what abobout the tecech coy suing? >> the tech companies themselves are very likely to e engage in some sort of counter actctive -- counter activity to stalall trup with t this particular d decisi. it is unlikely to stand up thiss

desion in rerelation to section 230. it is veryry unlikely thatat t's exexecutive order will l stand n the courts. in that senense it is the distraction but it pointnts to real issue whihich is public interest involviving technology. amy: could twitter delete trump's account? >> twitter could potentially but i don't think they will enengage in that. i think what they're going to do is continue e to labelel his tws inin this particular w way. but wilill see cocontinuedd backlash accordingly as well. amy: ramesh srinivasan, we have to have you back on but i want to thank you for in the being with us, professor in the department of infoformation studies and designgn director at the university of california los los angeles. democracy now! is working with as fewew people onsite as possible. the majority of our amazing team is working from home. if you want to sign-up for our daily quarantine report, go to democracynow.org. 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.

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>> this is al jazeeeera. ♪ anchor: you are watching the newshour live from london. coming up in the n next 60 minus -- pres. trumpp: the chinese government has continually violated its promises to us. anchor: a response to china's crackdown in hong kong, pledging to an preferential treatment for the territory. days of violent protest and tensions remain high in minneapolis where a police officer has been charged in the murder of george floyd. [cheering] anchor: the case