Aljazeera. And on the. Roof. I dont at all watching aljazeera thats for money about top stories this hour george fords calls and has arrived at the fountain of praise church and his hometown of houston where people have been gathering to attend his funeral his death in Police Custody sparked 2 weeks of protests across the u. S. And around the while. Hundreds of people have also gathered to pay their last respects to floyd in minneapolis the city where he died. And burundis president has died at the age of 55. 00 a government statement says he died of a homes attack on monday he was due to step down and organist off to the recent president ial election. Well lets take you back to houston now and the fountain of praise church where as you can see the beginnings of the funeral of george floyd are currently underway a large number of people have arrived we did see the reverend al sharpton walk in with George Floyds family now u. S. President ial democratic hopeful joe biden will not be attending today we understand but will be giving a video address to this crowd and we do expect reverend al sharpton to be delivering the eulogy well as you can see the crowd there is of several 100 people and after this there will be movement to a private family burial but for now lets pause and have a little listen to some of the music that were here. On all those crowds gathering there to remember george floyd will be following that very very closely and returning to houston very shortly that will be for now. Now for decades incidents of Excessive Force being used on black people have led to talk of reform but little action in march 1901 video of rodney king being beaten in los angeles were broadcast around the wild the acquittal of the officers involved sparked days of riots in february 20th. Of a Neighborhood Watch group and that led to the launch of the black lives National Movement there were also several high profile deaths blamed on Police Officers in 2014 including eric garner Michael Brown and 12 year old timea rice in 2015 freddy gray died in a police van in baltimore while in the custody of 6 offices and then just over a year later Philander Castillo was shot and killed during a traffic stop. Well earlier i spoke to one of the original members of black lives matter. And this is what she had to tell me. What weve seen in this past week and now these last 2 days on the media is a slew of other Police Killings that now their body camera footage has been released or the lawyers of the victims feel comfortable that this is the time to release so theres a video that just came out of 4 yo man his name is happier from texas he didnt did his lights and the police pulled him over and they ended up killing him and weve seen subsequent video coming out in the last few days but what we really have is not a racial consciousness awaking within a Younger Generation again a multiracial gender binary break in Younger Generation and i want people to understand that here we have my daughter is 15 so in her whole lifetime not only has she seen numerous numerous amounts of killing we have mass incarceration gentrification Student Loan Debt a climate catastrophe a younger people right now and now a covert they know that the only choice they have is to not only be in the streets but to be organizing and be part of a movement that will keep the pressure on to do what we want which is to fund Police Departments and then later abolish the system of policing as we know it because it does not protect anybody and it has not worked. Well now moving on to the corona virus pandemic the United Kingdom is one of the worst hit by the Global Pandemic and total confirmed infections are heading towards 300000. 00 but questions remain over the true size of its death toll the government puts it at just over 40500. 00 a tally by reuters though it says its reached nearly 52000. 00 and use agencies figure also includes suspected cases which it says gives a more accurate picture because testing was scarce alley in the crisis and it could actually be even higher an expert from the Governments Office for National Statistics says about 64000. 00 more people than usual have died during the pandemic our chris smith is a consultant for ologist at Cambridge University he says the death toll is still something of a mystery who knows and actually our chief medical advisor chris witty has been a pains to emphasize throughout this that it could be very misleading to just cherry pick numbers or to look at one moment in time what we really are going to have to do is to look at whats called the excess mortality or excess deaths and that will involve doing this looking backwards because well have to look over a year we know roughly how many people are expected to pass away in any given period and therefore we can see if compared with previous years any particular time in the year or across the entire year we see an excess number of deaths and that excess would hard be hard to not attribute to cove it so its that number that will be the magic number when we look back across the year and obviously were not there yet so were not going to know what the true position is also means we can compare how the u. K. Has fared against other countries. Well the Airline Industry is facing record losses of 84000000000 dollars this year thats according to the International Air transport association and that would make it the worst year in the history of aviation fronts has now announced a 17000000000. 00 rescue package for its Aerospace Industry almost hauffe of that money will go to the National Carrier fronts as most of its planes are grounded use of the pandemic the government is hoping to save hundreds of thousands of jobs. Well in the philippines the entire island of luzon has been on lockdown now for more than 2 months thousands of police were deployed to enforce strict quarantine rules but activists accuse them of committing Human Rights Violations in the process jamila undergoing reports from manila. These men say they were desperate to feed their starving families so they took to the streets in protest to demand help from the Philippine Government most of them had lost their jobs driving small buses called jeepneys when the covert 1000 lacked and was put in place but they were arrested and jailed without warrant by police and now they are told they are free to go temporarily because police say they violated the governments rule against mass gathering and they will continue to file charges but the oldest prisoner in the group 72 year old Elmer Cordero and winston are milia couldnt get their Police Clearance on time. I thought theyd already gone to my wife but they said it took another day before elmer was released the government says the law remains firm and fair if you remember not lets look at the case and the evidence on hand but regardless of age they have to face the consequences and they will only be given clemency once theyre found guilty the lawyer defending these men say they shouldnt have been arrested the government imposed one of the longest and most restrictive lockdowns in the world when the coronavirus pandemic began Government Data shows more than 190000 filipinos have been arrested since the lockdown began and police say the number of the street crimes have also reduced significantly but the rights activists here in the law are not convinced they say the state is becoming more repressive by the day more than 90 percent of those arrested. Come from impoverished communities like joseph a fish vendor who says he was taken to a Detention Center along with around 50 others for trying to buy fish to sell so he could feed this family. It was such a painful experience they were all cramped in one so he had no food no decent place to sleep it took 12 days before his family was able to get him out but a Manila Police chief was caught partying with his officers during the lockdown period and the local mayor violated quarantine protocols with this and to raj none of these top officials have been punished and those who have spent time in jail say they know that being poor in this country often means a life of hardship and sacrifies but what this government lockdown as. Well lets take you right back to houston and the funeral of george floyd and as you can see the funeral has begun there are several 100 people in that church including members of george points family and the reverend al sharpton the singing has begun and the program has been released it is a lengthy program lets have a little bit of a listen to what weve been hearing from that service so far. Each and every one of you watching the way of television and. Those of you that are here to observe the home going celebration of brother george floyd and certainly let me say to this family our hearts are with you our prayers are with you we trust that god will strengthen you the old gospel him says in times like. We need a savior. Times like being easily. Be very sure that youre going to go home and the solid rock. As the writer want to bring greetings to everyone whos been the sanctuary was always those who are watching by a stream or someplace warm today im reminded of the song this family the summers wrote these words in a time of trouble and he says it this for man how that. And the lord heard him and he saved him out of all of his troubles banks of the lord camps around also fear him and he delivers them. And then this word is what helps me and blesses me in such a matter that i can never move out of my pain without remembering this that the lord is close to the broken heart and the saints those who are crushed in spirit sobs 3467 and 18 from the unite the will give you hope to the floyd family and to all that are here to our members should be to take mcgee to all of the people to the clergy and the leaders of faith in our community your here who are take material who are here in our elected officials and to everyone who has taken time to join us by stream we are all connected. This is a moment. Of connectivity this is a moment by which god has gathered people all around the world to connect death around the life of the brother George Perry Floyd now listen today theres a few things that we want to encourage you to expect can we help you today 1st we do ask you to keep your mask on within the sanctuary we thank god for that if anyone is in distress you can stop into our or raise your hand on us this will be watching to make sure that we can assist you but in the tradition of the africanamerican charge this will be a home going celebration come i want to say here this will be a call following celebrating our brother george but i said i know you know what that means that means foot stomping to. Breeze and god. Because we are celebrating his life but just before we begin this home going celebration let me just thank publicly all of those people that helped to make this come to pass i want to begin with describe benjamin from thank you for watching out over this family in times of devastation someone has to stand up and take the lead and thank god that you have done just that brother and then also the Roman Al Sharpton thank you for through North Carolina and minneapolis continuing to sound the trumpet and let people know that this is about injustice and we want to see justice served and then locally i want to thank our mayor and mayor pro tem whove done such a wonderful job of making all the resources of this city available. To have the reviewing yesterday as a matter of fact we had a viewing yesterday with tens of thousands of people that came through these doors and it came off without a hitch because we made sure a speedy was here and the Fire Department was here and people were here e. M. T. Specialists were here we had people here from everywhere they were giving out water for all of those of you that dont know. It your services your resources we want to thank you on behalf of this family we thank you thank you thank you to brother George Anderson who is our chief operating officer of this church and brother dallas jones working together in tandem to make sure everything was pulled together thank you this is enormous task this is a gigantic responsibility and for people to look at it and think well you know i would have done it this way you dont know how you would have done it if you had this many people right this many people funneling through your toes but thank god we didnt have any problems everybody was respectful everybody was sensitive to what the family is facing and were just glad to know that we have such a great team here in houston and so me i think its right across have some turns an intern im a natural yet im going to celebrate his life we may we we may mourn will be contrary and we will find a home that is for sure are we want to follow the program that is already printed but for those who do not have programs the musical selection will be led by pastor campbell raylan and this houston aggregate of finger earth and a man who have left us already we are so delighted to have him here reverend arthur brock there about an appraisal do a part of the special reading doll testament reading thats the book there who is Pastor Emeritus of greatest thing that Baptist Church here in Houston Texas in the new testament reading and reverend dr mary white who leads the Prison Ministry here at the fountain of praise she will offer a prayer of confort to the family afterwards there will be a Video Montage that i think all of you will enjoy so in that order were asking them to come then some one statement. Can see there are several 100 people gathered at the fountain of praise church there to celebrate George Floyds life theres been plenty of music and plenty more to come we will according to the program also be hearing from his family as well as several tributes from his friends george ford himself was a rapper in fact and there will be a montage of some of his previous performances and we will be hearing from the reverend al sharpton and also president ial democratic hopeful joe biden as well as congressman al green who has been very outspoken about many africanamerican issues as well as the mayor of houston Sylvester Turner now i do believe that in houston this day june 9th is now in the county Harris County is now being called george floyd today lets have a listen to some of the music thats being used a celebration. Of you. Being. His you. Know. God. Here we will take care. Of this is silent remember god we. Take care of you. Every day. A law will. Our own way. When you get sad he will. Leave. After her. God. Her. One. Of you. Give me leave to the family 11 last all. Maybe you. Just heard. Her. Broke. Because you know youve been listening to pounce take him around saying god will take care of you at the funeral of george floyd. When our correspondent john hendren is just outside that chance for us john theres been plenty of music already plenty more music to come it seems that this is a real celebration of George Floyds life. It is indeed this is going to be a 3 hour long ceremony thats unusual. By american standards but as you heard also in africanamerican Church Tradition theres a lot of back and forth going on we have as you mentioned 2 members of congress will speak of a president ial candidate there will be 3 pastors who speak even before the reverend al sharpton gives the formal eulogy but were hearing from friends were hearing from family and even outside here weve talked to some people who talk about their memories of george floyd and said while hes become this National Symbol who has sparked protests and demonstrations across the u. S. He was also a man a church going man who baptized people who was generous to his friends and so some of the people we talked to said that while its tragic that he died in the way he did its also satisfying that hes done hes caused a change to happen in this country Police Departments across the u. S. Are changing their tactics and there is talk of defunding or reducing funding for police and increasing funding for things Like Mental Health and homelessness and so this Funeral Service really serves 2 purposes one is to remember the man the other is to talk about the movement that he generated. John i want to ask you left on more about the man hes been described as a gentle giant he was a very talented athlete at school and we know he died in minneapolis but she was very much his hometown what was his life like growing up that. Well thats right he was born in with parents and raised here in houston and we heard from one of his brothers folk at that minneapolis ceremony may speak again today who said that. George floyd was known as perry to those or really knew him well and that he was a physically intimidating person but a gentle giant he used to like to play jokes on his brothers and others very religious churchgoing man. Even though he ended up beneath a Police Officers need they say that was not character