Live from studio fourteen headquarters and im dead you know welcome to the news grid its happened catalonia has declared independence from spain the procession politicians passed the motion to turn the autonomous region into a new republic the National Government meanwhile isnt acting unprecedented measures to stop the split as these breaking developments ripple across europe and the world we have full coverage from barcelona and madrid. Thanks for joining us here with the news grid relied on air were streaming online through you tube Facebook Live and aljazeera. Unprecedented momentous shocking illegal just some of the words being thrown around right now after the parliament of catalonia declared independence from the rest of spain so they want to create a catalan republic while approval has been given to spains National Government to impose direct rule over catalonia lots of ground to cover lets start at the very beginning and the moment the declaration was made. So that move was backed by seventy votes to ten in a ballot boycotted by Opposition Party m. P. s the regional president s carlist shared hugs and handshakes celebrating for them a victory theyve longed for an outside massive crowds cheer the results as you can see many Holding Signs saying that catalonia has never been part of spain so heres some of what this puja mom had to say. Just a short time ago. The political representatives that were legitimately elected have adopted the mandate that was validated through the polls kettle on citizens in the next few hours well have to keep calm we have to remain peaceful in a civil and democratic manner while just after a catalonia as parliament made that stunning declaration spains National Government obtained the approval it needs to impose direct rule over the region as it tries to cross the splits so the Prime Minister might be out a hallway tweeted this immediately after the vote its obviously in spanish but you can see the translation beneath and hes saying i call tranquility to all spaniards the rule of law will restore the legality in catalonia and m. R. And those are in fact his initials for. The whole way all right we have correspondents covering this story for us lets start where it all happened in fact and and that is barcelona andrew its been a dramatic couple of hours and or simmons there he is joining us from barcelona as im saying its a dramatic couple of hours andrew just tell us where we are right now now that catalonia has declared independence from spain. Where are we well youd be very brave to guess where we are politically with this now and where we are in terms of social political grounds as well because it is an extremely tense situation im standing in front of the eighteenth Century Parliament where history has been made by seventy votes to ten votes with two blank papers this was a secret ballot by m. P. s and they voted for secession they voted for independence they voted for what theyve been campaigning for for many years and the scenes inside that building were extraordinary afterwards i was in there when collars pushed them all was addressing the assembled crowd there was no room for actually standing almost they were ecstatic people were in tears there are hugging each other there was not a real sense of reality there one might argue if you were rather cynical because they were just on top of the world the reality out there though is that madrid the Spanish Government is intent on addressing the situation what it calls illegality there was a number of remarks in that Senate Hearing in that pointed directly accusing the powers of article one five five to install a government that was unlawful and that means the government that pushed this through the julie elected government to push this through and indeed parliamentarians as well. In effect sacked as of a few hours time and could be physically removed from office no one knows exactly how that will play out it has to be said that this was not unanimous the opposition including the socialist left this building in disgust they boycotted the whole. Process and then out on the streets fire crackers in a demonstrations of support for what happened here that would have been a very different demonstration have the not deemed a decision to actually go for secession so let me bring in here now. Guest. Sonia youve been following this right the way through and you a Security Specialist as well as a political analyst tell me what do you make of this situation the situation is exactly as you describe it bob we still would have to have the picture of what is the scenario right now in madrid also to have the whole. Idea of whats the current frame because as you just said here it seems out of reality everyone else whos stayed and remained are very happy. It looks like if all that pressure that has been inside many politicians for the last years it has just came out and they were hiding the families and everything but outside the reality is that we now have a state and forcing this one high five which means suspension of autonomy and we cannot know how is going to be developed if tomorrow the National Police is going to take the contract over the most of the squad or the Continent Police it is quite cruel and that is just the beginning of the suspension of autonomy that is going to follow so it is an Uncertain Times and it is easy to understand that many people can be happy right now but i think that happiness is going to be put into brackets very soon i think we can see the scenes on the streets of all cheering and celebration but what about the millions who didnt want to see this happen the people who dont really have much of a voice from the unions who demonstrated i suppose what about them im guessing they are very worried very very probably this appointed and. Maybe some of them are also scat. Its almost half of the population it seems who are in favor of remaining in spain and half of the population who would be in favor of the sitting so we can also see this coming days now demonstrations outside of unionists saying this is all crazy and we just do not understand how you did this and put us into this situation lets go back home this whole process now a secret ballot that was something of a surprise was didnt want the secret for in a parliament yes although in the end it sends on to all of them all the m. P. s hotel to follow what we call here party policy because just the two blanks and then those who voted against are from the. So called cutting and branch so it seems in the end they all followed the party direction. What we guess was it was secret first to avoid potential legal actions against them and also mainly in case someone wanted to just not follow the parties or action so if someone wanted to vote in blank for example because although being prime to pendants was not in favor of the sway of the carrying independents but its inside doesnt happened in the end this point about the security situation here. Which is the Regional Police force and strong it stood between the National Police of spain and the people of catalonia at the referendum which was declared illegal all over the first where do they stand now if theyre ordered to break up the sort of demonstrations youre seeing on our screens right now so im not sure if it is. We can say that they stood in between they really were supposed to follow like she did show you or theirs and some cases they. It it is also true that because of political decisions they were sent just in couples to voting stations and they argued that therefore it was not proportionate to just even act against hundreds of people in each polling station so you could understand that that was more like a very smart position from the political leaders so that they would not even put into the situation of having to go against the people now those political leaders are going to probably be withdrawn by the Spanish Government and theyre going to put someone new there very different orders with them probably so i hunted me i always say i dont think anyone becomes a police to these are by isis i think at the beginning at least theyre going to follow what theyre told to. The situation would need to get really dramatic in terms of people and population being affected so that they would start does a buying thats my feeling now weve seen the United Nations flag draped over a balcony in this sort of off the mouth of this decision theyre trying now i would assume to try to internationalize this because the whole government has failed to internationalize it brought about with the e. U. Basically saying it wasnt even interested in mediating let alone supporting such a move now we have doubled cell saying to both sides of this dispute do not get physical do not have any violence on the streets fight with words dont fight on the streets. What do you make of the could it have a role or. Somehow taken its tod which is quite logical and rational from an e. U. Perspective they use a union of states and you would never expect states going against other states because almost every. Every chin that could potentially want more autonomy or even want to be independent. It has been criticised also by many catalans for not being there in claiming to be. To find a dialogue solution and to find or to at least be willing to listen if today tusks words seem to at least it could be an inflection i think we still need to hear more european voices to know if theres really going to be a change in their position or not so do you thank you very much indeed for joining us on the news grid so there you have it extraordinary situation here into the unknown is something of a cliche but its definitely in this situation it was historic it was emotional but then it was emotional across a whole kaleidoscope of moods and right now no one is sure which way this is heading the maybe a lot of elation on the streets but theres a lot of people really worried right now in this region of spain back to you unknown territory ok anderson mens thank you for that and just let me pick up for just a moment on what the guest was saying to andrew because a lot of people sending us comments and questions on twitter and here at the news grid wondering about what theyre going to do next so. That they will continue to speak only to spain this is according to the Reuters News Agency were just hearing this now and hes also saying that for the you nothing changes after the cattle on parliament this is and is also urging spain catalans to favor force of. Arguments over arguments of force so that is according to donald tusk the European Council president so you were listening to the situation in barcelona with anderson as well as his guest so whats happened in madrid is that the Prime Minister at my piano the whole way he had this to say listen to what he has to go to if you give the people what i have to say with what the government just started it will take any decision that corresponds with the rules to recover legalities and well do that this afternoon youll have a special minister Council Meeting later today and the goal i insist is to recover legalities and so i tell every spaniard in every catalan to stay calm. I mean it will bring her and she is joining us from madrid and as we expected heard that we understand that there is a crisis Cabinet Meeting that will be held in madrid in just under an hours time about forty five minutes from now what are we expecting there. Well thats actually the final step before the article one five five. Action basically after that were going to hear from a Prime Minister who actually leaving the chamber here shortly after the vote told reporters. At a press conference. Probably well hear more from him after that you know older remarks he had earlier in the day where before the declare ration of independence by the authorities that he was very short he actually said it was against the rule of law called it a crime and he said that thats exactly why article one five five was being triggered but we havent heard much from him since now if it is a historical day in barcelona in catalonia its historical day in madrid in the rest of spain simply because this article one five five has never been triggered before ever since the constitution was written by back in one nine hundred Seventy Eight and i think its something that is also quite worrying some people there was criticism for example earlier in the day when he was speaking in the chamber giving his fourteen minute long speeches some of the lawmakers there were some of the people outside were wondering why are you applauding this is actually quite a difficult moment theres nothing really to celebrate here that the country has such a difficult lot of people the worry is the unknown uncharted territory the fact that there is no precedent for this article to follow and this is such a broad based article that you can actually interpreted the way you want and thats what weve been hearing really from both sides of the viber the officials here or those in to petition of article one five five is completely different so certainly this is a big. Here in madrid and among just normal people wondering what will happen next and many saying well. They cleared independence but youre going to have to have to session proceedings those in session proceedings will find any partner here in madrid so nothing would happen without sort of a kind of a struggle but people are hoping that it will continue to be a political struggle even though many of very much aware that with article one five five it gives some sort of i would say quote unquote super powers to the Prime Minister in the sense that he has all options in front of him and whatever is needed he can adopt or adopted. As he puts it the rule of law and the constitution how widespread are these super powers as youre calling them and also one. Ratifies the vote that they voted on to trigger a trigger article one fifty five we understand that they can take quote all necessary measures i understand we might be going to the realm of speculation here a little bit what kind of measures can we expect what kind of measures have you heard about. Well first of all what kind of. Superpowers he has thats actually open to interpretation ive heard everything from. The basic ones which he Prime Minister has actually said he would do which is this solving the Regional Government in catalonia taking over control of for example of public. Media in catalonia to also taking control of the Police Forces there maybe even replacing some of the offices catalan officers by some sent dritte but then you have an area of options depending on who you speak to they will tell you yes or no but ive heard people tell me analysts experts tell me that that could be could include the use of force it could use include the use of military force some others would tell you no that does not hes not allowed to do that and actually article one five five does not allow to the Central Government extending its through over the autonomous government and its really open to interpretation what people say is that actually at the end of the day is the Constitutional Court that will do the balances or the checks and balances here on the other side remember because he said from the beginning that this referendum the cattle a referendum was unconstitutional and nobody listened and therefore it is there went ahead with that vote to basically. Not recognizing the authority of the Constitutional Court so i think you are in the midst of a very complicated. Crisis and this declaration of independence have taken things as step further one probably that people here in madrid did not expect to happen so soon you know yesterday they were deliberations here at the senate and there was a feeling that maybe things could be. I dont do it may be that there was an expectation that the catalan president would have called for snap elections and in that case then the article one five five would have been triggered there was also a proposal put forward by the socialist party to actually allow even after triggering that. That article that if indeed after that there was a call for elections and the that article would be suspended immediately none of that happened and until the last minute there was hope here to see Something Different happening in barcelona that did not happen the measures the Prime Minister talks about the ones i just told you are the ones we know of so far so far now with the latest developments over the past few hours whether hes going to take that as step further and whether hes going to add other measures to that thats something were just going to have to wait and hear from him later after this extraordinary Cabinet Meeting we do have one one viewer watching us via whatsapp who sent us this question why are major western countries so silent on this crisis at the same time let me tell you what the a. P. Is reporting and the news line its just dropped just a few moments ago from the Associated Press the u. S. Now weighing in so the u. S. Calls catalonia and an integrity part of spain and says that it supports spanish efforts to keep the nation strong and united that is what the United States say so one can assume or how fair would it be to say that the government in madrid right now would be looking for as much International Support as possible. Yes absolutely and i think the government is in madrid is quite confident that it certainly has support at the european level. Certainly the European Union has made it clear that it does back the government in madrid also because it views this referendum as. Usual not going through the required steps to make that referendum illegal also because this is a concern of the territorial integrity of spain and specially for the europeans this is very worrying because there is this mood across many countries in europe whether its in italy whether its in belgium people here in catalonia would point the finger to scotland she breaks it is the sort of mood of sort of Pro Independence groups or Political Parties who are promoting that across europe for the European Union is very important for them to have a stand that will set a precedent for other. Groups in other countries or other Political Parties in other countries who might be eyeing a similar steps to the one that the catalonian government has taken certainly what came out from washington now will make the Prime Minister feel stronger but at the end of the day his problem is within this country how he deals with catalonia is going to be very significant donald tusk actually to european commissioner tweeted calling on the Prime Minister to use the force of argument rather than the argument of force because also in this country you had other separatist movements had the boss for example and so there is a fear really among people that if this catalonia goes ahead the way the catalunya leaders wanted it might have an impact not only on the rest of this country but also at the european level ok her reporting for us from from madrid. Me how that will leave it now well leave it there for now thank you what well do now before i bring in my other guests actually let me tell you that weve had more reaction now from nato and a nato official says that catalonia the catalonia issue is a domestic matter and should be resolved by spain so some reaction now starting to trickle into what we saw over the past couple of hours happen in spain now well speak to Stephen Rigney hes lived in barcelona for sixteen years is joining us via skype thanks for talking to us on the news greg just your reaction to the developments over the past few hours yeah well its. Quite worrying as a Business Owner here in barcelona i ran a guest house and the last month kind of noticed a lot of worried people writing to me is a reservation to a consulate should we. Should is it safe to come to the city so now you know its i mean its so far its been. Its still safe but i think people are just quite worried about what what it means for them and People Living here like. Yes just a little bit on an important point i think which is business and economy so lets just look at that for a moment and in fact we are getting a question via facebook from marco asking do they meaning barcelona do they have an economy to support themselves since youre saying that youre a Business Owner what do you think of that. I mean as youve seen a lot of the Big Companies already started to say that theyre going to theyre going to leave catalina their main offices of major banks and pharmaceutical companies and even cattle and travel companies are starting to read ok to play sensory catalunya which was what do you thats not for you. Honey. Id like to think that you know that managed to work it out. Really how it will have to wait and see how ad up out of control this gets and the people here react i mean its very kind loans are lovely peaceful people. But i mean they do have a lot of you know there is very strong feelings and seen a lot of kind of friendships kind of rupture over this this topic and you know nobody really knows whats what exactly is going to happen next is a car less kids or more and this is another question were getting via whatsapp from our viewers as current as. The right man to catalonia forward personally. I dont think so but i mean its a lot of people are thinking hes wonderful but i think you know as the head of. Cattle and state he should not have i dont think he should have done really to what is done today i think. Hes had a few opportunities to to engage in dialogue and i know the madrid. Roy has not has not exactly helps issues at all and i think definitely a lot more dialogue should have taken place between them but i dont think what he did today was was really anything more than perhaps in the future will be looked back on as the martyr who took the first great step in. Helping catalonia become an independent state do you think that catalonia will become independent i know there are a lot of unknowns in the next couple of hours in fact like determine a lot of things but what do you think do you think that it will see independence. I mean. The way the Spanish Government has handled it has probably increased the amount of people that are in shaver of independence even in the last month since the first of october. Say twenty percent i mean i know people who who had always planned to vote no went out and voted yes because of the violence that is still being dished out by the spanish police. I personally id like to see more. I like to stay within spain perhaps as it in you know i recognize. The state within within spain and the culture is different the people are different but i still think i would like to see them remain as part of spain i mean its really its hard to tell i dont think itll anything will happen in the next short period but maybe the next ten years through dialogue if theres a change of government in spain if it wasnt a p. P. They were dealing with im sure another party might be more open to at least speaking about it ok well leave it there we thank you for speaking to us on the news very thanks for taking the time well ill speak to and tony abbott minutes whos a professor at the center for european and comparative legal studies thats at the university of Cape Copenhagen thanks for joining us what do you think will happen in the meeting the crisis meeting that will be held in madrid in just about thirty minutes time well thats a very complicated question. Honestly. I dont know what you go by my house or what is going to happen. Ok tell us step back for a moment and tell me what you think of whats happened in the past a few hours with catalonia declaring independence and now madrid voting to trigger article fifty five. Yes well as a couple and i know someone who won. The cup or republic of what happened in the earlier today is exciting be. The only you so my potential i my prediction is that but it will play with force. Or soccer ball on the e. P. Five as a sort of launch and against the basic principles of this punched in probably will face more violent repression but for those people who are pro success unlike yourself youve described it as very exciting as there are enough thought been given to the rematch a ramifications off the boats and what will happen if madrid triggers article one fifty five do you think barcelona is prepared for any action that madrid might take i really think so. Because i mean when. When you are supporting the. New republic. The feelings that we now experience i have very very strong so i think the people of this. Sermon and paper will defend the republic and i will tell you even something more but what has some of those who were who were against success and those who didnt want to see this happen will live in barcelona yes well i mean. What happens with them what you mean it just seems that barcelona is somewhat divided between those who are pro sisson and those who are antecessor and. Yes yes but i mean if they are if they are we have been for the last. Twenty years they will accept that we are among the last that we want the secession and we want a referendum and would have us talking about europe the partisan how they. Know so they will accept they will accept democratically im not violent we want to punish certainly not sweet when there were much or no no women. Ok well leave it there we thank you very much for speaking to us from copenhagen we appreciate your time thank you regular mahama there social media producer is your and i am just getting so many comments and questions on all our social media feeds im sure you are seeing a lot more online its a wave of information right now daryn said theres more than a Million People right now on twitter talking about this mentioning the decision which is main hash tag catalonia with many people like adam here celebrating what they call a birth of catalan republic now all over twitter there is a flood of cattle and flags and pictures of people celebrating in the streets and at home but not everyone is happy though this is this years a says that its not just the Catalan Parliament voting for independence it is one half of cats lonia crushing the rights of the other half and most significantly was we saw the street from call billed hes from the European Council of Foreign Relations and he tweeted i have seen many declaring independence but that in itself doesnt make them independent very different and just to add one more this from this analyst forward of he says the e. U. Is not perfect and european leaders must listen mole to the needs of citizens catalonia is just the tip of the iceberg obviously retrieved some of those issues surrounding the influence of the e. U. As a whole right now so get in touch with us with your thoughts on the story of cats lonia you can use the hash tag news grid or just missed me directly im at random on that. Yes and just to reiterate what regular was saying you can get in touch with us here on the newsgroup so send in your comments to any one of her Online Platforms you can tweet us word age english were also on facebook at facebook dot com. Or you can send us a whatsapp on plus nine seven four five zero triple one one four nine as you may have realized ive been reading a lot of your whatsapp comments tonight on the newsgroup in just one more to bring to you stephen actually are writing to us via twitter tweeting us saying its victory for catalonia no matter the. Invocation of one fifty five this is history the whole world is watching the whole world is watching indeed in fact and we are starting to get some reaction as well from the United States from tosca from the e. U. So reaction now starting to trickle in and just a reminder that were also waiting to hear from the Prime Minister mariano de holy hell be speaking we understand in less than thirty minutes time thats it sixteen hundred hours g. M. T. Will also bring you that and all the other breaking developments as and when they happen but for now we do have other important stories to talk about here on the news grid and lets turn our attention to kenya because the Election Commission calling for calm there as votes are counted for thursdays president ial Election Rerun so just one in three people cast their ballots in a vote boycotted by the main Opposition Coalition kenyas Election Commission has now postponed related elections and Opposition Strongholds that were to be held on saturday mohamed the doe reports. Kenyas second president ial elections in three months what designed to bring along a coup money as political season two and. Then now doubts they may provide any closure off total what we witnessed was a very low voter turnout into in a climate of fear and intimidation and in that political environment is difficult for an election to be considered credible with nearly all photos of Opposition Leader raila odinga heeding his call for a boycott. Victory is not in question but some are already questioning whether the lol tunnel to give president kenyatta a reasonable monday took up a major defeat at a thirty percent the total voter turnout is a little over thirty percent who can yet i may have won but theres no way you can see a leader of you and form a government for all the. Voting on thursday was mobbed by skirmishes between police and stone throwing Opposition Supporters Police used tear gas and flat live ammunition and blanks into the air to disperse them but the protesters from this group in quickly how about the situation was calm elsewhere for voting in kimbo outside nairobi and other strongholds of president kenyatta. The election comes after weeks of political twists on tongues in the Central Business district of nairobi this through almost empty the kenyan economy slowed sharply b. C. As businesses have held back on investments until after the elections many kenyans say they want this crisis over so some even say the continued uncertainty is threatening their livelihoods when is the weve been stuck at home since wednesday the children went milk they want to eat and who else will provide for them yes we want a president if he wins and if youre sworn in its fine as long as we can continue to work on our children can have food and an education. For old election numerous resulting in a controversial route which many stayed away from thought is the story of this president ial race these hope it will have a happy ending but confidence is not high mohammed at all just i dont because. Well just to take you back to spain for just a moment and the cattle on president Carter Eskew Jamal has tweeted and what he said is this its in catalan but heres the translation to english he says catalonia is and will be a land of freedom in both difficult times and times of celebration now more than ever and surprisingly but maybe not surprisingly so a lot of people also asking us here at the news grid how a catalan secession would actually affects Football Club f. C. Barcelona so what ill do is ill point you in the direction of our web site al jazeera dot com because we have an article cold how would a cadillac succession affect f. C. Barcelona there it is so youll find it on aljazeera com and you can read much more about that on the web sites back to other news for a moment and has become the first country in the world to withdraw from the International Criminal court the pullout takes effect on friday a year after it notified the United Nations of its intention to leave. Is the only one of three african nations to actually go ahead with the withdrawal so here is a look at what the i. C. C. Actually does and where its perceived to be falling short it was born fifteen years ago under an International Treaty known as the rome statute it tries the worst of the worst so those accuse the things like genocide war crimes and crimes against humanity but only one hundred twenty four countries marked and gray there as you can see your party to it so that means the court can try individuals or cases from just these countries or cases referred to it by the u. N. Security council so the worlds most powerful nations the us russia and china and others including israel syria and iraq have never submitted to its jurisdiction critics say its inefficient its expensive and the trials take too. Long they point to the fact that only five people have been convicted in fifteen years its also been accused of having an anti africa bias for instance nine of the ten cases its currently pursuing are in the continent. Is the spokesman for the i. C. C. There he is lets listen to what hes had to say. Over tribes that he has committed prior to the date where. And you know that there is an examination. Case that has been going since. And i see prosecutor will also be solved this for me. So the spokesman speaking to us earlier on well moving on again for now on un human rights investigators have just finished a trip visiting camps in bangladesh thats where all hinge on muslims are sheltering after fleeing from me and maher they say the stories they were told were the most horrific things theyve heard from any conflict zone in the world stories that paint a disturbing picture of a consistent and methodical pattern of killings torture rape and arson more than six hundred thousand have fled mean more as northern Rakhine State for bangladesh since violence broke out in august the army which denies all allegations of atrocities says its targeting armed groups in rakhine not civilians desirous Florence Louis has more. The u. N. Fact finding mission led by three investigative spent about six days in bangladesh interviewing some of the six hundred refugees who fled into bangladesh in the last two months from northern Rakhine State now one u. N. Investigator said the accounts she had heard from women who said they had been raped by myanmar troops left her shaken and angry another un investigator said that the stories he had heard from Rohingya Refugees pointed to a consistent and methodical pattern of killings torture rape and arson and of course these are very strong words coming out from the u. N. Investigators last among the u. N. Human rights chief said what was happening to the rohingya in northern Rakhine State was a textbook example of ethnic cleansing now un investigators have still not been allowed into myanmar myanmar has deny them entry to the vet no choice but to interview refugees in bangladesh instead and this u. N. Fact finding mission its findings are coming out just a day after the un special rapporteur on human rights young he is speaking to the Un General Assembly in new york said it was time for the United NationsSecurity Council to issue a strongly worded resolution on what was happening in northern Rakhine State adding that the violence there could fuel extremism and become an even greater problem for the region now the myanmar government has denied these allegations and says that the crisis is being distorted by a campaign of misinformation yet Rohingya Refugees continue to stream into bangladesh bringing with them accounts of persecution and abuse lets show you some live pictures from barcelona there are the crowds that have come out in support of the vote that took place in Parliament Just about two hours ago or so so that move was backed by seventy votes to ten in a ballot boys. By Opposition Party m. P. And you can see the crowd still out in barcelona those who are for the vote that happened earlier on today now spains Prime Minister mariano da foyer meanwhile right after the vote took place tweeted and asked for calm and he in fact said i asked for calm from all spaniards and the rule of law will restore legality in catalonia and now we are waiting for the spanish Prime Minister as well as the parliament in madrid to hold a craze this meeting that will be it sixteen hundred hours g. M. T. Which isnt just about fifteen minutes time where we expect them to ratify the vote that took place earlier on in madrid triggering article one fifty five it essentially imposing a rule on madrid. Well there were images that shocked south africa and people right around the world they were shaky mobile phone video of a black man being forced into a coffin and threatened with being set on fire and now the men who did it have been sentenced to eleven and fourteen years in jail they pleaded not guilty saying they only wanted to scare the victim victor hes the victim who they accused of stealing were who has been looking at the reaction online to the story where he left and its a significant story for many South Africans daryn now as soon as the verdicts came out the hash tag coffin assault took off with thousands of mentions from south africa mainly with people celebrating now a journalist. Says good riddance may this be a lesson to all racists black and white. Now isa writes that two down many more to go but others say that the sentence really was just too harsh they think that six months to scare them and rehab would have worked out just fine now the victim of the attack is also had something to say he said that justice was done we also talked to the head of Human Rights Watch in south africa who welcomed the secession. Would talk about. Just a very good one to justice for going to. Push. To. Address this culture of hate crimes so well todays decision to come. Out of the. President s speech. Now this case is just one of many reviving the debates around racism in the south africa and when the video was posted last year it generated a lot of online campaigns with hashtags such as racism must fall or the u. S. With africa shames all racists but the government has also shown signs of improvement. The government drafted a bill to create new type of crimes in which content related to racism Racial Discrimination and a phobia will be considered offenses of hate crimes or hate speech and this includes anyone who intentionally distributes or makes available electronic communication which constitutes hate speech and was seen as a positive step to tackle racism in the country but many rights organizations say that the law is just too broad and could end up backfiring. The prevention and combating of hate crimes and hate speech is zero as it currently stands and. Creates the risk off the south african. Infringing very severely on freedom of expression i think todays verdict in which the culprits were sentenced to eleven years and fourteen years respectively proves the point he proves our point it proves the point that south africa already has existing laws and ecosystem is people off with racial hate crimes now how do you think social media has helped expose or drive cases of racism or do you think that this sentence was too harsh let us know isnt the hashtag aging is good on twitter or you can disappear message me directly im not really. Really thank you a lot of coverage on the news group about the political crisis in spain as you can see but there is another thats happening on the other side of the world australias government has been left stunned and clinging to power by a Court Decision thats remove the deputy Prime Minister from parliament or to rejoice as one of five politicians found to be ineligible for parliament because there are dual citizens under thomas has that story from sydney. Barnaby joyce liked to crack a cattle within parliament to burnish his old image but on friday Australias High Court decided when he was elected he wasnt australian enough to be an m. P. Let alone Australias DeputyPrime Minister joyces father was born in new zealand and though he says he didnt know it joyce was entitle to new zealand citizenship to know no reason to believe i was assisting in any other country but israel is born just justly and you know i grew up. And i served in Nations Defense forces not reasonably well thinking but its a straight is constitution says no one its hard to the rights of a citizen of a foreign power can stand for parliament on friday the high court decided ignorance of jewel citizenship was no excuse five m. P. s have been thrown out of parliament in all but most a senate says it will be replaced by others from the partys Barnaby Joyce his case was different he was an m. P. In the house of representatives where the government of Prime MinisterMalcolm Turnbull had until friday a majority of just one without joyce the government is at risk the decision of the court today is clearly not the outcome we were hoping for but the business of government goes on it can for now. Tamworth is most famous for its annual Country Music festival but under some of the second will be a by election here in which joyce is now were announcing his news even citizenship will try to win back his old seat but even if he does there are other problems if joyce wasnt properly elected as an m. P. He wasnt properly a minister either decisions he made as one could now be challenged in court when it came to the point where he realized that he might not be a minister when it was referred to the high court when there were doubts about it it might well. Those decisions are vulnerable the has already been a more immediate consequence australias Prime Minister was supposed to be travelling to israel on saturday leaving Barnaby Joyce in charge here at home Malcolm Turnbull has now been laid back indefinitely under thomas aljazeera. A prisoner in yemen has spoken exclusively to al jazeera about alleged torture methods used in secret jails run by the u. A. E. And its allies dozens of detainees have gone on Hunger Strike in the city of aden saying theyre being abused. The reports. Human rights watch says there are at least eighteen secret prisons run by usa forces in southern yemen they include mad prison in Aden Al Jazeera has obtained a voice recording of one detainee he says prisoners are regularly to watch it. There are various methods such as the electric shock waterboarding as well as forcing detainees to strip naked this is how they torture and different prisons they use different methods Human Rights Watch says other detainees at the prison have begun a Hunger Strike in response to mistreatment it wants the u. A. E. And its allies to take action to stop the alleged abuse in a statement it said detainees should not have to refuse food to be treated humanely and free from abuse the u. A. E. And a yemeni proxy should stop denying responsibility for mistreatment and investigate and act on the complaints. Of. The u. A. E. As part of a Saudi Led Coalition helping the Yemeni Government fight the rebels who have taken control of northern and central yemen including the capital sanaa more than ten thousand yemenis have been killed and almost forty thousand injured since twenty fifteen. Eighty percent of the population is in need of humanitarian aid Human Rights Watch says the u. A. E. Has been arming and training Yemeni Special forces to fight local branches of al qaida and eisel is documented dozens of cases of people including children who were detained by those horses and may have been subjected to torture the u. A. E. Denies the allegations. Lawyers though say nearly two thousand men had disappeared in southern yemen family members have been demonstrating for the release of their relatives for months Victoria Gate and be al jazeera. Well we have a couple more tweets reacting to the breaking news from spain where the region of catalonia has declared independence so heres what the belgian Prime Minister is saying his country is battling its own internal breakaway movements and he said a political crisis can only be solved through dialogue we call for a peaceful solution with respect for national and international order. Has responded to that hes the cattle on leader and he said that dialogue has been and will always be our choice to solve political situations and its she peaceful solution. Three palestinian farmers have been injured as they try to harvest their all lives after being physically confronted by Israeli Settlers this is just the latest incidents in a harvest season beset by harassment around illegal settlements where palestinian farmers need special military permission to reach their own lands Harry Fawcett spent the day with one group near the village of sun feeds in the occupied west bank in the predawn light and full of farmers gathered for the chance to get to their land for a few minutes Israeli Soldiers open the gates id papers are taken. And they go from being locked out to locked in they work fast beating the branches isnt good for the trees but its quick which helps when you have a six week old baby to tend to as well. Each family has just a few days not only to harvest their lives but to carry out Maintenance Work that would normally be done throughout the year but. The trees dont get the trimming or fertilizer and they need the land doesnt get plowed or maintained so the production goes yeah. The restrictions are the result of a separation barrier and military road that cordon off the nearby illegal settlement of. The Palestinian Agriculture Ministry says of eleven million olive trees five hundred thousand cut off in this way requiring coordination with the Israeli Military to farm a recent un report said those trees were sixty five percent less productive than those that are regularly tended less than twenty kilometers away near nablus another group of palestinian farmers was confronted by Israeli Settlers three were injured earlier this month by an illegal israeli outpost in the same area settlers simply help themselves back in south we find forward and rummys harvesting some of the nearly two hundred family trees they say they get two days access to do two weeks worth of work in february and seventeen days now at harvest time. At their mercy it all happens quickly as if were stealing time we come a dont sometimes we wait until eight or eight thirty we wait in the cold sometimes they come late sometimes they come early its the same when we leave ten hours after they first opened the gates unlocked once again the farmers expect another week or so of this restricted harvest season from then until late winter the locks will stay in place are a force that aljazeera some feet in the occupied west bank this coming to the end the crisis in spain and catalonia excuse me sorry about that heres some of what carla spitzer had to say listen. To the political representatives that were legitimately elected have adopted the mandate that was validated through the polls catalan citizens in the next few hours will have to keep calm we have to remain peaceful in a civil and democratic manner. So carla spiritual speaking earlier on listen to what the Prime Minister of madrid somebody on a whole i had said earlier as well. What would your job if you get what i have to say with what the government just started it will take any decision that corresponds with the rules to recover legalities and well do that this afternoon youll have a special minister Council Meeting later today and the goal is to recover legalities and so i tell every spaniard in every catalan to stay calm. Coming coming to us from barcelona so just a few hours ago the Catalan Regional Parliament voted to declare independence from spain and the Spanish Parliament meanwhile then approved direct rule over the region and you can see the supporters off that motion that vote to declare independence from spain from spain celebrating barcelona they were out in full force it seems cheering and showing their support for crowd this puja on the leader of the effectively lead this whole drive to the player independence from barcelona so that vote in parliament in barcelona was backed by seventy employees and there were ten against that ballots and some opposition members in fact boycotted the ballots and walked out in protest on the spanish Prime Minister saying that direct rule needs to be imposed to return quote democracy and stability to catalonia so thats where we are are right now in just a few moments in the next hour in fact we expect the Spanish Government in madrid to be holding a crisis meeting we will bring you all the latest updates from madrid coming up right here on aljazeera to stay with us thanks for watching well see you back at the news where though on saturday at fifteen hundred hours g. M. T. Im counting the cost to the Northern Region safe seats a moral to. All of me but who are the forces reshaping european politics how might chinas new leadership lineup affect the economy plus why fight is the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is saying bye bye for the fact it can hear the cost at this time on aljazeera. A new level of luxury has arrived. An experience that will transform the way we treat. Our Impeccable Service remains but known code breaking heat is a. Business class. The altar for the city the forecast. For the conducting business sharing a special journey with minors bringing you the things to. The search warrant that. Ranks number one in elegance true story. Youll centuries in the school introducing to school. List to newsgroups. As owner whos going places together. Provoking debate challenging the established line every single one of the three and a half thousand people who was killed with a drug dealer yes join mehdi has sung for up front at this time on al jazeera. Where. It was an audacious bid to capture a city in the southern philippines and turn it into a province of myself. With the smoking room is asia the new battlefront when east investigates at this time on aljazeera. Discover a wealth of wood winning programming from around the world paul full documentary as we were running away for our life from a brutal regime the. Debates and discussions were getting comments on what the International Community should do how worried should we therefore be that this guy has the Nuclear Codes on a scale of one to ten ten challenge your perception. That some. Six years after the death of gadhafi. Aljazeera travels to libya. To hear from some of those who for his regime contributed to his downfall. The battle of misrata at this time on aljazeera. To be a nation in barcelona esque