That is whats happening to thousands of Unemployed People in belarus. As a result, the public is now taking to the streets in protest of this socalled parasite tax. This was once unthinkable under the current regime, where critics were disappeared and minorities persecuted. Reporter the crowd chants shame shame the protest is directed at the government in minsk, who they make responsible for the poverty, unemployment and heavyhanded policies, such as the notorious president ial decree number three. This policy is wrong. Where does our money disappear to . Down with the government. Dark times for this country. Our weapon is solidarity. Officials are parasites. Reporter the evening before the protest, we meet svetlana in brest on the polish border. She doesnt want to say her last name. Svetlana suffers from severe arthritis and had to quit her job as a sales clerk. Now, shes unemployed, an invalid, and unable to take many of the few jobs available. The government labels her a parasite and threatens to impose penalties. Svetlana many are poor, many are hungry. Some even kill themselves because theyre unemployed. And theyre going to punish these people . Yes, i have a car am i supposed to sell it . Or sell my kidneys . Or the sofa my daughter sleeps on . Yes, weve got a nice sofa, but we bought it long ago when i was working. Reporter svetlanas husband is a truck driver and the familys sole provider. Hes on the road a lot. Svetlana draws no state benefits, but she still faces the socalled parasite tax. Shes calling for the decree to be abolished. Basta, it says enough. Svetlana well see what happens. It cant get any worse, so im not afraid. Were all so tired of living in fear. We want change. Reporter the next day, a big surprise for the kiddies, and everyone else. The citys quickly organized a free childrens festival with loud music on lenin square, where the protest was set to take place. The demonstrators had coordinated the protest through social media and had no warning about the festival. Svetlana i grew up in brest, and ive never seen a festival like this, especially not for free. And theres never been music like this. Its just to interfere with us. But they wont succeed. Yesterday, the authorities were prepared to talk. This morning, well have their answer. I suggest we march straight to city hall, peacefully, without disrupting traffic. Whos with me . Reporter once the demonstrators are on the move, others join them. In a few minutes, at least 1000 men and women ordinary citizens have come together. Svetlana hands out protest signs. Comrades, dont let the provocateurs get to you. What does it say . Something about slaves . That were slaves. On tv, they tell us how good things are. Then why do we have so many Sick Children . What kind of country is it when you have to take out a loan to give your child a proper education . Reporter the moment the crowds starts to protest against the government, the police appear. But they get shouted down and withdraw, virtually unheard of in belarus, where demonstrators have always been hauled off to jail before their protest even ended. Inside city hall, the mayor decides to speak to the demonstrators. Arent you ashamed . Some protesters shout. But others want dialogue and get it. For three hours, the citizens hear arguments why they should pay the additional tax. They accuse the government of trying to cover up disastrous economic policies at the expense of the poor. The mayor has no answer also quite unprecedented. Are the protests outside and the dialogue in here signs of a political thaw . Mayor rogachuk to me, its common sense. A dialogue gives us an opportunity to gauge the mood among the people and perhaps to correct the governments course, according to the majoritys wishes. Svetlana i dont know if i should believe them. But im hoping they heard us and realize we want neither revolution nor a war. If they havent understood that, this will end badly. Well see. Reporter later, on their way home, five young men are arrested and held for five days. A political thaw looks very different. Michelle in the wake of mass street protests, belaruss president lukashenko announced that the tax would be suspended for the rest of the year, but stressed the tax would not be scrapped. Meanwhile, the protests continue. It is now almost a decade since the greek financial crisis erupted, yet the country is on its third bailout, and more and more people face poverty. It would seem that nothing short of a miracle could turn the countrys fortunes around. Enter artemis sorras, a man who claims his personal wealth is enough to pay off greeces debts. That would make him 100 times richer than the richest person in the world. With a growing flock of faithful followers, our reporter went to athens to find out if he was greeces savior or a fraud. Reporter it may resemble a prayer, but these petitioners call it an oath of selfrespect. Our genes determine the character of our existence, they chant. The members of hellenon synelefsis, or assembly of greeks, insist that its not a political party. They call themselves patriots and reject the existing system. In ceremonies like this, they profess their faith in the resurrection of the ancient greek gods. Mr. Ploskas were all here together to commemorate our ancestors, to transform all the negativity on this planet, to bring harmony to humankind and come closer to our creation. Reporter their headquarters is in the heart of athens. Theilead is temisorr aliasthe savior of greece. His goal is a new system under his leadership. To achieve that goal, hes pledged to liberate greece from its national debt, using his own private fortune. But nobody seems to know where that money is. Mr. Sorras since 2012, ive had 600 billion euros on my account with canadas Montreal Bank under the name sovereign democracy of ellas, so its in the name of all greeks. The greek politicians have even lied the money in the national budget, but never requested it. Saving greece from going under is not their goal. Reporter this is sorras proof that the money actually exists a confirmation allegedly given by the United States treasury department. It states that the money was made through past bank transactions. The greek office of the canadian magazine vice disagrees. They insist that the 600 billion euros doesnt exist. Thats after a two months of Undercover Research in the organization by their reporter, thodoris hondrogiannos. He says all the papers are forged, including documents from the United Nations and the world bank that sorras used as evidence for his conspiracy theories. Mr. Hondrogiannos both institutions have stated that these claims are false and that their names have been used in forgeries. Theyve filed s suit against mr. Sorras for misuse of their names. Reporter his followers dont seem to care. They number around 12,000, with more joining all the time. At the same time, more press reports are appearing that say his critics have been put under pressure. Some experts say the organization is dangerous. Mr. Hondrogiannos these people have stopped watching the news and dont follow the current discussions. They believe whatever this organization puts in front of them. These are mostly people with low standards of living, people who havent been to school or dont have much social contact. Reporter back at headquarters, sorras inner circle is confident theyll be able to run in the next elections and win. We asked sorras about his record. Hes appeared in court on charges of forgery, blackmail, and slander. In 2013, he was sentenced to two years in prison but was released on probation. Sorras protests his innocence. Mr. Sorras if intelligent people at the International Level believed what ive been saying was false, i wouldve been arrested years ago. Wed all be in prison now, and this interview wouldnt be taking place. So trust your reasoning and see for yourself. Reporter back at the foot of the acropolis, new members take an oath and pay an initiation fee and five euros a month in membership fees. In return, they get spirit festivals, promises about saving greece, and the feeling of being in on something earthshaking. Mr. Sorras what you see here will be happening all over greece. All greeks will be doing the same thing studying our own history and shouting it out in unison. This will happen. Reporter his followers appear to believe his promises without question, just as they believe in their oath of selfrespect. Michelle in parts of poland, the air is so polluted, you can see it. In sheviets, in the south of the country, it is so bad, that it is said to be one of the cities with the worst air pollution in the eu. Many of its inhabitants rely on cheap coal to heat their homes and nd to burn their garbage instead of disposing it. But the citys mayor is determined to sniff out the problem with the help of a drone that can smell. Reporter this drone is being used to measure smoke emissions. And here in zywiec, they are pretty hefty. The polish town has one of the highest air pollution levels in europe. Most people here heat their homes with cheap coal products, and as a result, you could cut the air with a knife. When it is windy it is bearable, but if not, when people light their fires, it is so dark you cant see much at all. Of course we need to do something about the smog. But using drones . I think good quality coal should be cheaper. I use the cheap stuff myself and contaminate the air. Reporter the antismog drone is both loud and impressive. Sensors register emission levels, which are then passed on to environmental authorities. The drones are just one of the many measures that have been introduced to combat smog in the town. The more conventional method is that the police are called out to inspect a smoking chimney. They act immediately. And they go off in search of the culprit. The officers go down into the cellar. The owner isnt happy. Who reported her . They want to know what kind of material she used for heating. Often people dont just burn cheap coal, but garbage, too. Look in the stove and youll see what i use. Coal and firewood. I separate the rubbish back there. So what is the problem . Reporter the system has obvious weaknesses. If you want to annoy your neighbors, you report them. A drone, however, remains neutral. Here, a routine call to check up on things. We just want to see if that is normal wood and not treated wood, like furniture panels or other banned materials. Reporter the Police Officers take a sample of the ash for analysis. If anyone burns household rubbish, they can expect a fine. But the family that lives here agrees smog is a major problem. The soninlaw even has a socalled smog app. Mr. Maklakiewicz we check to see if it is okay to go out with the children. The forecast for today isnt too bad. Reporter but often the air quality is atrocious, especially in towns in southern poland. Sometimes even worse than in chinas smogplagued capital, beijing. New Heating Systems would help matters, together with better coal, but many people cannot afford them. Electric displays show if the air in zywiec is bad, or really bad. There is a local competition. A district with good air could receive money to pay for new pavements or street lights. And now the drone is flying above the chimneys in a bid to convince air polluters to think again. After all, who wants to live in a town where an antismog mask is a must . Michelle hungary appears to have reached a new low in their treatment of refugees. Recently, the Hungarian Parliament announcedhat wants to force all asylumseekers into detention camps. This comes after the country put up a razor wire fence along its border with serbia to keep them out. Hungarian police and soldiers have been accused of beating any refugees and migrants who manage to sneak across the fence in hopes of reaching western europe. One of the victims is ahmed, who is losing hope that he will ever be able to escape the violence and trauma he had hoped to leave behind. Reporter its deceptively calm here at the serbianhungarian border. Only a few refugees dare to come close. Theyre all very aware that theyre not welcome in hungary. But a threat over the loudspeaker is enough to hammer it home. It says the Border Crossing is the property of the hungarian authorities. Anyone who damages the fence, crosses illegally, or attempts to cross is committing a crime. Ahmed is among the refugees being treated like a criminal. He wants to remain anonymous. A group of them recently managed to sneak over the fence and onto hungarian soil. But it was a shortlived stay, he says. Ahmed there were 70 of us who crossed the border two weeks ago. We got a kilometer into hungary before they caught us. They beat us and herded us back to the fence. Reporter in belgrade, the Aid Organization save the children is one of the first places refugees can go for consultation if theyre pushed out of hungary. Tatjana ristic is providing more first aid than ever, and shes heard some shocking stories. Ms. Ristic in many cases, they report that these push backs were violent. That they were beaten and sometimes even bitten by dogs. Many of these cases also involve children. Reporter ahmed is stuck in belgrade. Warehouses near the main train station are now home to hundreds of young men. Many of them make repeated attempts to cross the border. But they all meet a similar fate to ahmed. Jamal it was a rainy day. Along with 24 others, i crossed over the border into hungary. The Hungarian Police forced us to lay face down on the ground. Then they started hitting us with canes and truncheons. They took our wallets and cell phones. Then they set their dogs on us. Reporter while were speaking to ahmed and jamal, several men come up to show us their injuries, apparently inflicted by the hungarian border police. There are next to no neutral witnesses for these incidents at the border. The injuries we see speak for themselves, but the hungarian government denies everything. They say the reports of violence carried out by hungarian border authorities are simply lies. Mr. Halasz these people are talking about cases from belgrade. Do you know where belgrade is . Maybe in belgrade there were attacks on migrants, which resulted in various injuries. The injuries they have are very similar. We dont know where the migrants got their belgrade injuries from, but were certain they werent caused by hungarian border guards, police, or soldiers. Reporter in belgrade, volunteers from Doctors Without Borders run a small clinic where refugees are treated for their injuries. Doctors there have started to gather evidence. More and more of the injuries they see come from beatings, dog bites, and tear gas. Mr. Djudjevic the patterns of traumas and the violence still remains the same, and deterrence measures are at their peak. Testimonies that we get from different persons have a similar story, so we are getting a clearer picture of whats happening at the borders. Reporter jamal and his friends have no doubt there will be more Violent Attacks when they try to cross the border next time. Resignation and bitter disappointment are growing. Jamal i dont know what they have against me. I dont even want to go to disappointmehungary. Rowing. Its been such a long time, i just want to finally get to western europe. Reporter the number of abused refugees pushed out of hungary has been rising for months, say human rights organizations. A sad picture on europes external borders. Michelle and it looks that reaching western europe will remain a dream for most of these refugees. Can you move forward without first recognizing the past . Thats the hotlydebated question going on in spain at the moment. When the government announced that it would change any street names that honored heroes of the brutal Franco Regime, the public response was mixed. Some people say that dropping these names is a form of denying history, while others say that not changing them would be an insult. Reporter the past follows him wherever he goes. Luis perez was tortured and spent seven years behind bars during the franco dictatorship. The 80yearold says commander zorita is partly to blame. The pilot, commander zorita, fought alongside franco against democrats like himself. Mr. Perez my mother was persecuted and murdered by francos police. I was sent to jail because i fought for freedom and democracy. Seeing these street names is a real insult and a lack of respect for francos victims. Reporter many people who live on commander zorita street dont agree. Changing the street name would mean a new address and lots of red tape. The shop owners are especially upset. A new name would mean new calling cards and advertising material. Mr. Otero many people know us as the pastry shop on zorita. It could harm our business. Sing they would no longer find us. Furthermore, we dont agree that the street name needs to be changed. Reporter general millan astray was a notorious fascist and founder of the Spanish Foreign legion. For many, a criminal who showed no mercy with political opponents. But not for everyone. Guillermo rocafort is organizing the protest to stop astray street being renamed. He hands out arm bands to those who support him. The qualified lawyer says the nation is in danger. This isnt just about street names, but much more. Mr. Rocafort if the street is renamed, what will happen to us . Patriots like myself will be forced into a corner. If we lose our role models in history, then all that will remain for future generations will be reduced to rubble. Reporter the oneeyed fascist general is still celebrated by right wing groups. Fascist idealism lives on in many peoples minds. That is why it is so important to come to terms with the past, says luis perez. Mr. Perez we dont want to open old wounds, but our wound still hasnt healed. Nobody healed it. There was no recognition for the people who defended freedom and the republic. Thats why we are fighting for the government to appoint a commission to establish the truth. That has been the case in all countries with a history of civil war, except cambodia and spain. Reporter and thats mainly due to the opposition by the governing partido popular. Hardly surprising the party was founded by an earlier minister of the franco dictatorship. Ms. Sauquillo the Franco Regime has never been condemned in spain. The Francisco Franco Foundation Still exists, it gets state subsidies. No other european nations still supports a foundation that honors a dictator. Only spain. The policy of the governing party over the past decades has been to prevent coming to terms with the past. Reporter the victims of the Franco Regime have long been calling for a change of government. Luis perez hopes that madrids streets will soon bear the names of better role models. Michelle and madrids streets will honor real heroes, but this time, many of them will be famous women. This is after the complaint that the majority of streets honor men. Let us know what you think about that or any of todays stories by getting in touch on twitter or on our facebook page, dw stories. Thats it for today. Thank you for watching. For now, its goodbye from me and the whole team. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [voiceover] up next, its music city roots live from the factory. In this episode, instrumental twang with nashvilles steelism, ukulele star, jake shimabukuro, and an album debutrom andrea zonn with guests vince gill and keb mo. National broadcast of music city roots is made possible by acceptance auto insurance, based in nashville, tennessee. Acceptance offers personal automobile coverage from coast to coast. More Information Available at acceptance. Com. You, your terms, accepted. [voiceover] franklin, tennessee. Inspired music. Local flavor. On the edge of nashville. Visit franklin. Com. Nissan. Proud sponsor of art and culture in our home state of tennessee. Nissan, innovation that excites. More information is available at nissanusa. Com. Vietti chile, made locally in music city
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