Affected, most particularly those the north of the blast. About 70 of the radioactive fallout from the chernobyl disaster landed in the region that is today southern belarus. Despite taking place 30 years ago, the people there are still suffering. The weather is sunny just like it was thirty years ago. Back then, inga vanzonok was a carefree young girl. Her father mikhail was a healthy young man. Both can clearly remember april 26 1986. There was a cloud of dust and sand. It was coming from chernobyl and drifting towards our city. When we saw it, we tried to flee. We hailed a taxi and drove off. But it was hopeless. The cloud was huge. We couldnt escape it. The radioactive dust cloud changed the vanzonoks life for ever. First, the doctors discovered that mikhail had stomach cancer. Now, 30 years later, his daughter has suddenly developed thyroid cancer. I never showed signs of radiation exposure, so i thought id be ok after this length of time. Now i realize that radioactivity causes a long, slow death. Belarus was heavily exposed to the invisible poison from ukraine. The radioactive cloud didnt just settle on the city of gomel, but also the surrounding villages. 70 of the radioactive fallout from the ukrainian reactor ended up in neighbouring belarus. The soviet authorities hushed up the catastrophe at first. Today, there are many signs warning of the presence of radioactivity. But for many this information came far too late. Particularly for children who were playing outside at the time. In the village of schirokoe almost all of the inhabitants are now suffering from the consequences of the disaster. Andrei deikun is one of them. Like inga, hes 36. And hes already gone through many of the things that she is currently facing numerous operations and chemotherapy. In the first three months after the explosion, neither he nor his family were allowed to leave the area. We were constantly monitored. At first everything was fine. But later on my glands started swelling and i was sent to minsk for an operation. It was my birthday. Id just turned 17. I cried a lot. When they sent him to minsk for the operation, they told me he had to have a tooth removed. I only found out the actual diagnosis later, that it was cancer. Facebokinsert bei 02 43 almost half the People Living in the contaminated zone have been diagnosed with cancer. Inga vanzonok was spared at first. In the city, her family had access to products containing iodine which help protect her thyroid gland. But a month ago, she was informed she had a malignant tumour and had to be operated on immediately. Now, inga vanzonok says shes feeling better again. But she has to take thyroid hormone supplements every day, and she runs the risk of developing various complications. Here is my scar. Its four weeks old. Every young person here has to be prepared to undergo an operation like that. But i never thought it wouldnt happen to me. Of course, we dutifully tried to eat products containing iodine, fruit and seafood. But it was all in vain. Back in schirokoe. Andrei deikun spends most of his time in the garage working on his car. He got the money to buy it by selling his cows and horses. He was no longer able to look after them. Andrei has been feeling ill for months now. Our cowshed was over there. Now weve only got a few chickens and geese. 04 1404 28 oton tamara deikun, andreis mother im 59. But i hope to live a bit longer. For my sons sake. For his future. Who knows how much time we have left. But the deikuns want to stay here in their village in the middle of the contamination zone. Thirty years on, the Nuclear Disaster at chernobyl still dominates the lives of the people who lived through it. 4. 44 inga is hoping that things will different for her son danila. What could we do to help these people . Are there ways we might alleviate their suffering . Let me know what you think about that or any other of todays stories. You can get in touch on facebook, email or twitter. More than two years ago, demonstrators took to the streets of ukraine to protest the governments decision to postpone signing an agreement with the european union. The protests were concentrated in the maidan, the Central Square in kiev, the countrys capital. The confrontation turned violent and shots were fired by the state security forces. After several days of clashes, the president fled but by then dozens of demonstrators had been killed. Members of an elite police unit called the berkut were blamed for the killings. But despite a change in regime, there has been little progress in the investigation and victims families are skeptical they will ever see justice. A place of hopes and dreams and of death. Ulitsa institutskaya in downtown kyiv, the street where the revolution against the prorussian government erupted two years ago. It was here in the government district that Government Forces opened fire on the people. 106 demonstrators died in the uprising, 48 of them on one single day, february 20, 2014. Among them was Volodymyr Chaplinsky, anelectrician from obukhiv, just south of the capital. His family considers him a national hero. Theyve collected old photos, and mementos from his involvement in the euromaidan protests. They also managed to recover the shield he took along. This shield used to be a lid on a washing machine. Chaplinsky was among the very first protesters on maidan, calling for a proeu ukraine, and a break from russian influence. Volodya had no fear. He faced the government sniper bullets with this thin little shield. How brave is that . He never took cover. He stayed until the very end. 18 minutes before he died, Volodymyr Chaplinsky made what would be his last phone call home, he sounded nervous. His son vladimir has edited together a range of videos from the internet to recreate his fathers final moments. This is the first time you see him you can recognise him from the shield. Here hes asking about a wounded comrade. Its a scene that hes viewed hundreds of times. Look. My father has just crossed the street, and sat down next to a tree. This is the exact moment the bullet hit him. In slow motion you can clearly see his shield bending from the impact. And then, despite being fatally wounded, my father gets up and takes a few steps. But it was already over. The projectile probably went straight through him; it was never found. The images of a dying Volodymyr Chaplinsky are more than historic testimony. They could also help the state prosecutor determine the exact trajectory of the lethal bullet. 18 months later, an anonymous phone caller claimed the guns used by the snipers had been hidden on the banks of a stream in a suburb of kyiv. This was the first time investigators showed the previously secret location to a tv crew. 3. 2003 39 oton vadim tymoshenko, kraine Prosecutors Office m2 x this is absolutely crucial to our investigation. This place will help us clear up the case. Without this location, and the evidence, it would have been far more difficult. And indeed, after a long search, last august divers eventually discovered carefully sawn off guns. They were traced to a unit of the berkut riot police. Its members are known colloquially as the black company. A special commission has reconstructed the horrors inflicted by the kalashnikov assault rifles on that day in february 2014. The head of the investigation shows us around the offices used by his 60strong team. This shelf contains the files for the criminal proceedings about events on february 20 on ulitsa institutskaja. We have 48 counts of murder, and also 80 people wounded by gunfire. The prosecutors Principal Task is to identify the culprits. That has meant analyzing several thousand hours of video material over the last two years. With the help of it specialistsh individual member of the berkut unit in action that day. What we are seeing in this case, is one of the commanders, marked on both the satellite photo and film. His identification was verified with the use of geographical information from mobile phones, plus footage taken by the surveillance cameras of a bank. Of course a successful identification requires distinguishing features, especially when the gunmen are masked. Fortunately the berkut commander has only one hand, making it easy to identifiy him. We still need more time to work out the other fighters. 5. 49 although not in the case of one particular member of the berkut unit, who remained unmasked for the entire operation. X a biometric analysis suggested it was in all likelihood pavel abroskin. Hes since been charged with 8 counts of murder. But he and another officer arrested deny any responsibility. We defend the government elected by the people. If yanukovich is elected president , we defend yanukovich. If poroshenko is our president , we will defend him, too. So none of our commands were illegal, and we didnt shoot anybody. We just did our job. We defended the ukrainian people. What i want to know is why nothing is said about the armed demonstrators. I know from a reliable source that welltrained groups were there on the square. And those armed demonstrators did their job perfectly. But no one wants to talk about that. 13 policemen were indeed killed during the protests. One man has since admitted to having shot at them. Except, proeu snipers have been granted amnesty. Meanwhile, prosecutors have identified 26 berkut shooters. Most of them, however, have already left the country. No other place in europe prides itself more on its Multicultural Society than britain. Particularly the capital london. And its true. I lived there for almost 10 10 years, and its common to seepeople of different races and ethnicities mingling with ease both professionally and personally. But like that other supposed melting pot, the usa where there have been increasing instances of people being kicked off planes because of their appearance, there is a growing unease. In the wake of the attacks in paris last november, many muslim women are being singled out because of their headscarves and made to feel unwelcome in their own home. The newcastle metro on a saturday afternoon. This man just appeared and he looked at me and my sister, he was quite close to us and he said, get off the seat now. 23yearold ruhi rahman was on the train with her sister, headed for a suburb. This is my country, im an englishman. We didnt get off our seats, we sat down. Afterwards, he came behind us and he was saying, do we want these people to bomb this place . The insults, the accusations ruhi says they have become evermore commonplace over the past weeks and months. She was born and raised in england. She lives here in the northeastern english city of newcastle. I feel like this isnt my country. It makes me feel like im an outsider when im not. It just makes me feel really sad feeling like im not welcomed in my own country. It does, it hurts a lot. They are young, female and proudly adhere to the dress code of observant muslims. The head scarf has long been an accepted sight on the streets of the uk, especially in london. But now muslim women are increasingly becoming targets of verbal and physical attacks, sometimes brutal in nature. The organization tell mama is providing assistance, dispensing advice via telephone and the internet to those who are affected. It says it has abundant evidence of this abuse. You come to england and you have no manners. Go back to your where theyre bombing every day. Dont come here where were free. On a weekly basis well be getting between 20 to 30 cases reported. In november 2014 it was already on a monthly basis. Comparing it to november 2015 when the attacks in paris took place we had 115 cases per week. So were talking about an almost 300 increase within a weeks period of time and were still sure that this is underreported. Thats because many people are either afraid to speak up, or are ashamed to tell their stories. Joynoor is one of them. The london banker was riding the undeground one evening with his girlfriend. She was wearing a headscarf. And he tried to remain calm as she was verbally taunted. But the situation quickly escalated. I was looking downwards and he was standing up. Im still looking downwards and i stood up and he just punched me on the left hand side of my face unexpectedly. And why . Ive got no idea he just wanted a fight. Because i refused, he wanted a fight. Racism is evident in every country and britain is no exception. At the moment, the vast majority of reported incidents are directed at the countrys three million muslims. Those sentiments are further stirred by the negative headlines in britains tabloid newspapers. A recent article in the sun claimed that as many as one in five british muslims support violent jihad. Some have accused Prime Minister David Cameron of stoking antimuslim sentiment with his comments about extremism and islam. But britains top Counter Terrorism official rejects criticism that such remarks make the problem worse. I dont recognise that description. Are there challenges . Of course there are. But were working hand in glove with the muslim community, indeed with all our faith communities to ensure that we target those who seek to divide us with a clear, unequivocal message that we will stand together and unite to defeat you. Numerous Public Meetings are held to discuss and determine ways to combat islamophobia. All of them take place under police protection. Ruhi rahman wants to contribute to the discussion by telling her story. Its her way of encouraging others to step forward. Because her story has an encouraging twist. Fellow passengers confronted the abusive man. And it was he who ended up leaving the train. I felt like god sent some angels. It felt really amazing because ive never seen that before and you never hear it. You always hear about people getting abused and you never hear when people are there to support these people, but i heard it this time. And rather than be cowed by fear, ruhi is clinging on to the hope that there are more Guardian Angels in newcastle. In our final report today we take you to france. In 1942, hitler ordered the construction of chain of fortresses along the Atlantic Coast as a defense against an expected allied invasion. Dubbed the atlantic wall, the fortification, as we know, failed to hold back american and British Forces leaving it destined to become a mere footnote in history. That is until jeanpaul lescorce, from the seaside resort of soulacsurmer, started digging into his past. The frenchman whose father was forced by the nazis to help build the wall, has made it his lifes work to excavate those concrete structures and preserve them. Armed with a shovel and buckets, jeanpaul lescorce heads to the beach nearly everyday no matter what the weather. For the past sixteen years hes been clearing out World War Two bunkers that were built in the dunes of soulacsurmer, a coastal town not far from bordeaux. Hes dug out 22 so far, all part of the atlantic wall, a Coastal Defense system built by the nazis. Along with the sand, i found a lot of glass shards and other trash. I cleared it all out and sorted it over here. After the war the bunkers were forgotten about and eventually the were covered in sand. A few were used by teenagers as a place to hang out. Now they are accessible to the general public. Lescorce immersed himself in the history of the atlantic wall and knows the bunkers inside out. Hes now passing his knowledge onto fabrice, a local youth, who will eventually guide tours. Watch your head. So what would happens if the enemy notices smoke and throws a granade down the chimney . It falls into a concrete box inside the wall. A concrete box outside the wall, to be precise. Lescorces own Family History is closely tied to the bunkers. His father was forced by the nazis to work on the construction of fortifications in the area. And just after the war ended, lescorces sister was accidently killed by a german grenade. The grenade was lying on grandmothers mantelpiece. Nobody knows who put it there. Maybe my sister thought it was a perfume bottle. She didnt realize what it was when she picked it up. I was standing behind her when the granade exploded. Nothing happened to me, i was shielded by her body. But my sister was torn apart. For years lescorce couldnt talk about it. He failed at school and he became a problem child. It took me 40 years to come to terms with my past. I finally feel at peace. So do you find working on the bunkers therapeutic . Yes, it helps. But some locals are uncomfortable with the project. Theyd prefer to let sleeping dogs lie. Lescorces parents ran a cafe that was frequented by nazi generals. They like many locals at the time had collaborated with the germans. When i was a child, i considered the germans friends. Not terrorists or murderers. They were very civil, very polite. 3. 05 for retired german history teacher ulrich marwedel, who now lives in soulac, this friendly coexistence during the war is at the heart of the problem. You mustnt forget that a lot of the french got along reasonably well with the germans during the nazi occupation. Unlike like in other areas, there was no resistance in the region around soulac. Its no wonder people arent keen to think about it. Jeanpaul lescorce is convinced that history should be told as it truly happened. Even one zone. I want to give young people a sense of what life is like during times of war and occupation. I want to keep the memory alive. So that nothing like this will ever happen again. Its a way of working for peace. The defense system, which took years to construct, was overcome within a matter hours here in soulac in april 1945. From a military standpoint, the bunkers proved useless. But perhaps they have now found a purpose, 70 years on, as memorials, reminders of history. Thats it for today. But before we go, we would like to thank those of you who reached out to us on twitter in response to our story about northern irelands peace walls. When we asked whether more walls were needed to help the people of belfast feel safer, rixmarqholdings and dickie from texas both hope that the walls come down soon. While jrtvfan wondered why the two communities couldnt look past their religion and come together. Please do get in touch. We love to hear your thoughts. Until next time, its goodbye from me and the whole focus on europe team. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org]
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