And buildings across poland as the l g b t community there steps up its campaign in support of child activist well have the story of polands new rainbow resistance. Im Rebecca Ritters welcome to the program and president Alexander Lukashenko has rejected calls to hold a new election and says moscow is ready to step in to save his country speaking to supporters any means clucas shanker said the opposition protests of being steered from abroad and climbed to nato is deploying military forces near the countrys border the alliance has dismissed that claim but says its closely monitoring the situation in belarus undeterred tens of thousands of opposition protesters are also holding a man. Rally in the capital of freedom on chips the biggest demonstration so far those disputed election victory victory. And we can go now to do good news in the show and whos following the developments in belarus for us from moscow and the supporters of lucian because we just heard have gathered in the capital and address them tell us a bit more about what he had to say what we saw today from alex on that was really a defiant speech to his supporters which he painted as the majority he addressed the oppositions calls for him to leave he said that that would be lead to instability in the country he also addressed calls to hold new elections which is also been one of the the main demands of the opposition he said that those calls are basically orders from poland lithuania and latvia he has throughout these protests been painting the opposition and opposition proport protesters excuse me as being kind of manipulated from abroad and as being a sheep manipulated from abroad so today he did say that he is people want reforms people want change that we can start tomorrow thats what he said but overall his tone was very defiant follows opposition protests are also gathering on the streets today for a march of freedom what have you been hearing about the atmosphere in the city. Well it seems that. Those supporters have actually are sort of leaving the square after his speech meanwhile thousands and even tens of thousands of people seem to be gathering and marching through the center of minsk there also have been protests in other cities across fela risk but in minsk minsk it really is a sea of protesters that were seeing people are kind of waving the red and white flags that of that are symbols of the opposition people have come out dressed in white also a symbol for change that weve seen in recent days people are carrying balloons and they fear is really one of victory and not the atmosphere that weve been seeing over the past few days with these protests now live. To russian president Vladimir Putin yesterday and again today could we see russia propping up. Well after today that seems certainly more likely following a telephone call with putin the russian side said that it saw an external threat in belo reuss and it also said that they could that russia could support dello russo via the collective Security Treaty Organization which is a military alliance of 6 former soviet states which include russia and belarus thats essentially a military pact where if one country is facing aggression from outside that that all all countries then consider that to be aggression against them so we could in other words see kind of either military some kind of military support or perhaps peacekeeping forces from russia but i do think that russia is also kind of trying to warn the west not to get involved so well have to wait and see what that means in the coming days. Leave on the developing situation the data reporting from moscow thank you. Now a look at some of the other stories making news around the world this hour thousands of protesters have rallied in bangkok to demand political change tensions in thailand have been rising after the arrest of 3 leading prodemocracy activists the protests come after years of political turmoil and failed promises to restore democracy following a 24 tane military coup. U. S. President donald trump has said he will look into a pardon for whistleblower Edward Snowden trump said hed heard strong arguments for and against the move the exiled former National SecurityAgency Contractor faces criminal charges over his lake of classified documents that reveal the u. S. Government surveillance. And a surfer in a stray or who saved his wife from an attack by a great white shark bystanders say he jumped on the back of the 3 made her long shark and punched it until it let her go the mans wife suffered severe lacerations to her right leg but is reportedly in a stable condition. Now Hong Kong Media tycoon jimmy lie has denied colluding with foreign governments he made the statement after being released from prison on bail was a lie rather was arrested last monday under a new security law imposed by beijing during an interview with the w. He said he expected resistance to china would continue in hong kong despite the new law. Veteran campaigner jimmy lie has been detained many times but this was the 1st time he was taken away in handcuffs like told g. W. That although he expected his arrest he was surprised that it came so soon and that his sons were also targeted. This time be sure. Maybe because they have this so. I was there to shop for a make sure your scary. Especially when when when they take your friend me. With what you do i think this is a very effective intimidation to the community. And i says his most emotional moment this week was when he was surrounded by supporters after he was freed on bail during his foresee our Detention Police shelton interviews he did with foreign media pads and some social media posts as evidence of suspected collusion with Foreign Forces and you offense that the person in jail for life i met my parents i met on people and some of the senators and congressmen in the u. S. But if you called this is called lucian what can i say so mostly my career shouldnt is to have interviews why you studio in that way. I can be scared if im scared i wont be able to do anything or say anything thats why i accept your interview without any doubt beijing is making similar allegations against the media tycoons new state for half a day the most threatened physical paper in time its news room was also raided ly had this message for his staff. I told them that consider your own safety your conscience and you operate cation to church and society we are not asking you to be demarked her friends you know do whatever you think is the right thing to do so we would just continue to do it and test the water many protesters have been left wondering why now i as both peaceful and by them talk to visit and see men they. Lost gail demonstration will be the thing of the past but in this the meaning that people will cease to reduce it i think every system has will go on but in a different way i definitely agree that we have to control them head on because this is going to be a long fight we have to be flexible and courses and creative i will only be a solid mall off dorothy why do you believe that a peace to purchase can pressure on the Chinese Government you will us why only how can you be more while in bed the c. C. P. Who have the guns and gangs. The billionaire fled to holland khan from Mainland China when he was a penniless 12 year olds he attributes his success to the freedom he found in the territory but hes not planning another estate even though he may have to spend the rest of his life behind bars i was single as a ship because this phrase skate me everything you know i am deaf to this phrase im very grateful to what these what this process given me im 73 almost so maybe is a payback coming why should i be doing the right steve. Hong kong media tycoon jimmy knight speaking to you now to poland a country where people have faced increasing attacks from politicians and religious latest human rights observers say homophobic sentiment has become normalized in poland but in the past week has seen of wave of protests demonstrations across the country rallies have been held in warsaw and other cities in support of l g b t activists has been arrested for carrying out protest actions people have been hanging rainbow flags on statues and public buildings activists accuse polish police of unlawfully detaining protesters and onlookers. And data me reporter Joel Dahl Roy has been following this story joe tell us more about whats behind these protests something remarkables been happening in poland rebecca after years of politically that homophobia. Activists are starting to fight back using civil disobedience now i want to introduce you to somebody now this is margo we can see a video of margaret here she is an anarchist l g b t r who was arrested last week setting off a wave of protests she sending a message here just before her arrest and we can also see a video from her group called stop drone or stop nonsense now this is a group that goes around hanging rainbow flags on statues this is a common problem protest action now in poland activists say that statues have more rights than l. G. B. To people there now that is not why margaret was arrested she was arrested for allegedly attacking a van slashing his tires and getting into a scuffle with its driver another very in question was a van that drives around polish cities carrying homophobic messages this has been happening since about 2018 these vans are paid for by a conservative group and they have messages that are quite a gay people with pedophiles and. So forth now activists have had enough of these vans and they are trying to stop them we can see a video now just taken in the last few days of people getting in front of one of these vans we can see here that they police are getting involved as well as the activists try and stop this van from driving around and the police also intervene on behalf of the driver of this van making sure that people get out of the way so the van can continue its path carrying these messages as it drives across now margo was sentenced last week arrested last week for allegedly attacking one of these vans and its driver now shes been held in pretrial detention and shes going to be there for 2 months thats before shes even been charged charged or convicted with anything her supporters say that she hasnt been able to speak to a lawyer and that shes been held in solitary confinement so this is sparked this new wave of protests people have been coming out in the thousands over the past few days in poland more rainbow flags being hung on buildings and public statues right across the country and weve also seen solidarity marches including one here in berlin quite amazing. Job is of course recently been an election in poland which the Ruling Conservative Party was reelected in a campaign in which the laden politicians used homophobic language has that played a role and these recent protests yes it seems to actually have reinvigorated activists they say that theyve given up on the political process and theyre turning to civil disobedience because they see this as the only way forward and no these people of these protests have also gotten support from european parliamentary members have written to poland saying that maga should be released and were seeing more and more demonstrations this one actually happening right now today in poland so what were seeing is this new wave of activism across poland on tell dont lie thanks very much for bringing it up to speed. Heres a reminder of the top story were following for you this hour pro and antigovernment protesters are holding rival rallies in the batteries in capital in last weekends disputed election field position is demanding the resignation of authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko he says russia has offered its assistance to ensure the countrys security. And dont forget you can always get on the go just download our app from google or from the app store thatll give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news and if youre part of a news story you can also use the date of the new app to send us the photos and videos. Of you back next hour with more headlines of course you can staff today on our website date of the dotcom