Wave of human rights lawyers were arrested for allegedly subverting power some are being released from prison we meet one freaking lawyer whos getting his life back together so he can fight for his rights again. Blow im terry march and welcome to the program and to government rallies have filled the streets of serbias capital belgrade for a 2nd day protesters are angry over what they see as the governments mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic a surge in new infections led to talk of curfews and the law down critics say the sharp spike in cases is the fault of serbias president who lifted an earlier head of recent elections. Pandemic frustrations bubble over on the streets of belgrade chaos erupted as thousands of protesters battles with police and try to storm the parliament theyre angry over the president s handling of the coronavirus. The main reason we are here is to support the protesters during these abnormal times when the country is falling apart. Cases have spiked across the balkan country in recent weeks serbia recorded its highest coded 1000 death toll on tuesday it forced president alexander to take action announcing a weekend curfew for belgrade the protesters have pushed him to backtrack. Just as what i considered it but the crisis team thinks theres still hope to slow the spread so we may introduce harsher measures but without introducing a curfew. That hasnt been enough to keep the peace as police and demonstrators face off with flares fireworks and tear gas. Demonstrators say they want to return to normal and for the president to resign. The latest from journalist ferry hes following the protests and joins us now from the serbian capital it grow give us a quick update how bad were the clashes last. Where the clashes were very bad i was out there in the streets still serial one off their midnight and they were not stopping the group spread in those small streets after they started in the main front of the parliament and the police couldnt sit they control basically all the Serbian Special units were there trying to make peace in the streets of belgrade but they didnt look like this was going to happen and i could hear a show form for their gas and they were fighting grimly brutally because brought the worst throwing stones and also they had some kind of shock from throwing back to the police and. Ran very bad at the end. Everyone had to go there the cleaning companies to make the traffic function again very dramatic scenes indeed whats this all about anyway people in lots of countries are unhappy with their governments handling of the pandemic but they they dont go on a bottle rampage why is it different in serbia. Because there were 2 months lockdown and serbia was in the band. Funk says that were very using the fandom make law down very hard the citizens and then all of serbia declared. Victoria against good night dean and then few weeks later there were elections so demonstrators are saying that press them full just was trying just to fake the figures are using this to control the citizens and they were very unhappy 1st of all because he announced that from the friday they will be closed again but then they say they are not happy with this politics because for the last 8 years seatle control over everything in this country and they are not happy how these leading its politics the number of coronavirus cases has exploded in serbia recently do we know why. Well it was 1st before a position accused the president bush is that he wanted to win this election so they were 1st planned to be hold on april 26th and then they were performed it by the organized june 21st so before that also. Government allow a football match between belgrade practice on and 7 of the red star a soul or around 20 people that were in the stadium there were no managers in the whole country so all of sudden the week off their elections and we know here that the fan the make was thriving also among people from woods just farted because yeah the celebration after binning that lacked sense and some minister since the government also bought it and then it was in one of the safe this of serbia it was very bad so if people even that fact their Prime Minister on a boat in a base saying that they are lying about what thats going on sure thank you very much for bringing some to date there that was journalist a ferry in belgrade. Its a look now at some of the other stories making headlines around the world today the United States has crossed a new high watermark in the coronavirus pandemic to date the country has registered more than 3000000 cases of coded 19 the highest number of any country wednesday saw the biggest daily increase in cases so far. 5000000 australians are back in lockdown as melbourne grapples with a spike in new code 19 cases restrictions will be in effect in australias 2nd largest city for the next 6 weeks. The Prime Minister of ivory coast im a do go on colored body has died unexpectedly at the age of 61 the calls of death as not disclosed but body had a heart transplant 8 years ago and recently received medical treatment in france to china now where some of the 300 lawyers and activists arrested in a 2015 crackdown on human rights supporters are being released they had pushed back against president xi jinping has moved to tighten restrictions on free speech but were arrested and sentenced for subversion of power. Bill until his bowling i caught up with one of the lawyers just out of prison who is rebuilding his life as well as his desire to support individual rights. A family reunited one turned john a prominent human rights lawyer was released from prison 2 months ago hes one of more than 200 lawyers were detained in 2015 when chinas government started an unprecedented crackdown on lawyers. Machines are one of those you know you feel when you lose something important and then you get it back i cannot find the right words for this feeling it feels like something exceptionally precious but there is also the fear that i might lose him again. However theres fish there such as. 12 and junk spent almost 5 years behind bars many things are new to him this app that recognizes the names of plants. Before a whole where you could now ive been released i feel drawn to nature. I often go out to enjoy it thats how i started paying attention to plants i want to know their names i mean that during these years isnt whose name also took a toll on his wife. Candida because i was having these people came to my house and blocked the entrance. So television would you be when i tried to open the door and then told me if you come out i will kill you. Chinas government was taking their revenge on the compelling on his behalf his son to enter and also witnessed the only see this. Was you know youre 7 aware take my sword and fight against them. This is what i really want to do put out a 6 hour. Long turn john was taken without warning after that his wife did not hear anything about him until his trial was announced more than 3 years later and to death and i am very tense very nervous i could not sleep. On december 26th of 20181 trend john was charged with state subversion the serious offense and change levy was hoping to get a glimpse of him in court but again state security had gathered in front of a halt to which you know if you dont know im nervous ive been in situations often but every time is different. They stopped there were this is not about the rights of relatives this case is about state secrets here so you are going to load up on that right off my you. Know the family is trying to put these experiences behind them would take time for them to get back to a new movie life. After my release my son and i were very affectionate with each other at least on the surface but the estrangement is quite obvious. When i tell him something he opposes me he rebels this gives me a headache i feel embarrassed. I want to stop become closer to each other. Right now want to dream has a lot of time to spend with his family with origins have revoked his lawyers license but hes poor and you planning to appeal and to sue the government for its wrong. Welty w. s clifford koonin as also reported extensively from china and joins us now clifford its been 5 years since chinas socalled 709 crackdown in which many lawyers and activists were rounded up and jailed have things calmed down a bit since then or is that crackdown still ongoing well the way it works is these things evan flow so we had the situation on 709 where the web where they were all rounded up and particularly firms like fung a law firm we became gradually aware that there was a crackdown happening and then we were all surprised in beijing at the extent of this but then after that things calmed down because most of the key players have been have been rounded up but since then the pressure has has maintained its still there but its not as intense as it was back then. How much is this campaign to qualify just sent attributable to the rule of xi jinping i think is directly attributable to the ruler xi jinping hes been in power now for 8 years and during those 8 years weve seen a lot of. Major crackdown on all areas of Civil Society in china and even though hes not hes just doing what previous leaders did but in a much more intense way and much more focused way. What can we expect then moving forward not just for Mainland China but also perhaps for hong kong in terms of how authorities deal with critical voices in dissent well this is the big fear in china you have the constitution which guarantees freedom of speech and other liberties but clearly doubt that isnt applied in many cases on the rule of the communist party trumps everything and this is the fear now hong kong that a similar situation will prevail because under the new security law at the existing rules guaranteeing one country 2 systems. Seem to have been done away with and now the fear is thats going to apply as well to other areas of life including the legal system in hong kong so its a very real fear that we could see more oppression of lawyers in hong kong lawyers and anyone who voices dissent in china theyre facing some serious risks what options do they have to to support their cause well International Pressure is what a lot of excuse me a lot of lawyers there for example and activists hope for International Pressure to highlight their their situation hong kong is again a very interesting test case because thats where the eyes of the world are on hong kong at the moment some people have made powerless like joshua walling with hong kong and berlin that a lot of this these 2 systems which are now competing the Chinese Communist government system on the western systems are actually competing in hong kong and thats going to Bring International focus and attention to things like lawyers and activists so i think theyre going to be looking very much of what happens in hong kong in the next few months for thank you very much free and clear it can. This is news and heres a reminder of our top story this hour a 2nd day and night of violence pushes Serbian Police back protesters say theyre angry with the governments Coronavirus Response they claim the president is using the pandemic for his own political ambitions. Youre watching t. V. News remember you can always stay up to date with all International News on our web site thats of t w dot com also follow us on twitter and instagram d w days and terry martin will be back to top the next hour for thanks for watching. Combating the corona pandemic. Where does research stand. What are scientists learning. Background information and. Our corona update. 19 special next on d w. How does a virus spread. Why do we have it and when will this. Country just through the topic for