Any kind of reaction on their part and he also for the Security Forces would not be using live ammunition he said that they were forbidden to use any kind of force and from what we have him at the entrance towards the green zone and the several gates around the city the Security Forces have put up several levels of concrete barriers there are you know up to 3 or 4 barriers to try to prevent and treat and as far as i could see last night they were only equipped with bats and now it remains to be seen if it stays that way should proto street really try to cross because there have been accusations in the past by both protesters well as human rights organizations that some parts of the Security Forces dont really follow the chain of command and some of them are infiltrated by different armed groups or use expected violence against protesters so the question will be whether Security Forces will really continue to be able to restrain weight and the pressure both of protesters will remain peaceful because some of them do sometimes resort to violence ive seen a group of protesters assemble molotov cocktails earlier today which they intend to use in self defense as they say so it really goes both ways here and we just have to wait and see how it unfolds into the Late Afternoon and evening hours well protesters are also out in the thai capital bangkok after their demands for the Prime Minister to resign by saturday. Was not met Prime Minister prior churches says he will not quit youre watching live pictures now from bangkok where demonstrators are saying that his hold on power is illegitimate after last years disputed elections theyve been holding mass protests for weeks now calling for the reform of the government and of the monarchy tony chang has this update from the thai capital they gave the Prime Minister this deadline. Last night to step down of course thats one of the the one of the demands since they started protesting in july but again not surprisingly the Prime Minister didnt say he went to play america the temple last night i was asked if he was going to step down he said absolutely not so they come back out on the streets tonight difficult to say exactly how many but but thousands of people here and weve seen that a pretty consistently for the last couple of weeks when the students have come out on the streets they are trolling very big crowds and demonstrations to and pakistan opposition parties there are holding protests against the Prime Minister the mass demonstration in balochistan province is now the 3rd in a week theyve been launched by the Pakistan Democratic Movement it was formed last month by 9 major opposition parties seeking to remove iran khans government 50 countries have now signed up to a United Nations treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons its said to be brought into force in 90 days became the latest to ratify about agreement the move has been praised by activists but the u. S. And other Nuclear Powers have strongly opposed us the opposition candidate in seychelles has won the president ial election in an upset the Electoral Commission says weve all run color one has gained more than 55 percent of the total votes cast thats the 1st president ial win for the opposition in more than 40 years since independence from britain. And polling stations across chile have opened for a historic referendum on whether want to change the constitution the president Sebastian Pinera cost his voters a short while ago in the capital santiago demonstrators want an end to the dictatorship era constitution that they say promotes social inequalities the u. S. Vice president s chief of staff mark shaw says in quarantine after testing positive for the corona virus mike pence tested negative on saturday hes planning to continue campaigning around the country despite his exposure to the virus. Well those are the headlines ill have more news for you here after al jazeera while. I was having an experience which ill never forget i was 19 years old at the time. And it was quite a surprise to find myself in russia in the middle of a war the front seat literally. Numbers werent there but the parents i worried and i. Know theres a worry in times really it was a worry in time for us. Not knowing. If and when were going to get out and it was very worrying for the parents as well or you know. Their sons or husbands and all that was going to come out because of the way the war was going but once it was over there was just a waiting game. During this conflict there was a bit of anxiety because if youre in the middle of a war trapped there you dont really know which side accidentally could hit your ship so its quite scary times and it wasnt a glorious place to be obviously when you see a conflict like that and you watch it on the televisions there on the television or film war looks glorious book to be honest it is not it is completely horrific. We dont know if the israelis are going to push further from where they stopped on the sinai site further into egypt or we dont know alls we know is where stuck in there like trapped animals. What would happen who knows. Nobody could tell us. And thats what we have to live with. It was in a prison as you were no way but you you couldnt go anywhere couldnt do anything. Just to carry on. That said. Opened 150 years ago to connect the mediterranean with the red sea the suez canal is a remarkable engineering achievement. However one a vent in the storied history of suez remains largely untold how in 196714 cargo ships unwittingly sailed into war not to emerge but another 8 long years. Those manning the ships were neither prisoners nor hostages most came and went every few months but they did succeed in building a baritone Community Like no other. With their ships left in splendid isolation and unable to leave the suez canal bay stablished their own unofficial micro nation complete with traditions sporting competitions and even postage stamps. They tried to make the best of the situation in the great better late a particularly wide section of the canal socalled because of its high salt content. The merchant seamen were not remotely experts on the conflict into which they landed theirs was a world of engines and currents and ropes navigation was their strength and war was alien to them yet they found themselves surrounded by the bitterest of enemies in a confrontation that was none of their making. As months 20 years their cargo ships became covered in fine desert sand which from a distance gave the flotilla a distinct yellow color as a result of the vessels became known as the yellow fleet. And i miss her i know clearly meant. Her. Stood on fido fits here dipshit not friend. Of to your tent and you must start. North soon it. Is of our approach much as mccords the house cries of our fun a non indian on front and near in. Your arms or let staff. In mission is a continent. Confront dollars and bid on a who is cannot. Decide and dive a home from karachi. To give it all stones or it may not aid in yemen. Toward him name was a branched off name teaser fuel oil on an involved. Target before and i become bia from my get. Could kind of his old vida fonda. Descend in dished. As kind. Of odd to shrug off the boat one of you must know all feeling sponsors toward involvement and. Before via bunch of to come via become bunch of judeans and on to if you found fun you know puts words to it in his words cannot find. This a bit as. In djibouti muslims are not merely conscious position if they. Out to nish to do it with. My name is shawn dring i was an able seaman on the and the poles. Which was a british cargo ship. Which predominantly sailed to Australia New Zealand from the u. K. Taken general call go there im bringing back vegetables fruit meat back to the u. K. Basically our run. On this particular journey we had been out. To australia and. Back for the united kingdom. We left fremantle to cross the. Indian ocean and come in through aden. They know. When we arrived at the. Southern end the vessels were more outside on a convoy of 14 ships would commence the next day 1st slice through a little bit a lake and then we would progress the journey through to port site which is roughly a 24 hour journey on not mourning. On the convoy began to move into the base a late. This was the cold war a time of great tension between the superpowers of east and west rumors intelligence and espionage with occurrences of the day. And on the 13th of may 967 soviet intelligence warned of an imminent attack by israel the attack they said might begin on the syrian front where israel had assembled troops. Egypt which at the time had a Defense Agreement with this syrian allies prepared for battle. These were extremely tense times in the region a decade earlier and 1956 Research Crisis had seen israel invade the Sinai Peninsula part of egypt in a conflict that drew in the worlds major powers. A large number of egyptian Ground Forces crossed the suez canal and dug in of the Sinai Peninsula israels response was to put its own army on to a state of alert. 11 years later on the 22nd of may 967 egypt closed 2 israeli ships access to the straits of tiran a strategic waterway leading to the port of elat in the south of israel. The next day egypt also close the entrance to the gulf of aqaba to all ships carrying the israeli flag as well as to International Oil tankers bound for a lot the rhetoric between both sides ramped up and war appeared to be imminent. But to crewmen on a brief supply stop in aden now part of yemen the geopolitics of the middle east. Were not uppermost in their minds. On the way home from the far east we bunkered we stopped in aden and bunkered there to pick up fresh water in oil and we picked up some supplies there as well. During this time the 6 engineer and i decided we were asked the chief if we go ashore just for a last minute bit of shopping before we go into the suez canal and at the red sea. As a result of that we were on shore and we met a couple of british soldiers marines and they were on patrol and they said to us i think you to a better get back to ship because its going to kick off around here we didnt really know what that meant so we went back to the ship. Anyway we finished boom green in aden with the oil and water and supplies and we headed up the red sea i think it was before we went up there and see or join this time we had a meeting with the ships officers and the captain and they knew something was going wrong but they said should we carry on they took a vote whether they should carry on up to the sous canal or turn around and go back round. The bottom end of africa however my personal vote was carry on. For me. Into the sun through for. In a president you had me into hadnt via and as i did become trapped machines id forgot of good norm advice a lot of it doctrine on innovated. We just signed it to the test for. Us this were to show us tried to get. Views invite a shift for lag and i go. Rhymefest 00 get 20 fifths inches for the year ziva divided jewish begun as of the of the violent risk would have to go to shift an indoor garden candlelit vigil for conduct among artists nish tzin commitment once a seat on to us and tell us could not fit. Enough to not have. To shift his somalian reports in knots an hour from. Off to my not to model visit north. Less than a month afterwards shipping was barred from the straits of tiran israel launched a series of attacks on egypt and positions triggering the 96076. 00 day arab israeli war which drew in not just egypt but also syria and jordan it was monday the 5th of june 1970. I was on the watch when all of a sudden we had an amazing noise of a jet engine. And as we looked up we see in a formation of sri fighter planes coming across from the sinai side just above must fight and flew between ourselves the last 4 ships to 3 planes crossed they immediately climb show High Altitude and as we looked at them. They began to do what we now know was a means of blowing up the wrong way at the airport or the air force base. When. We could see it it was less than a mile and a quarter way up in oculus we watched the jets bombed a long ways 1st and then they israeli warplanes which were parked all by the hangars was then attacked those 3 awful nation of sri israeli jets one state dropped their payload they came back and crossed towards sinai again again very very low on must high seas and then across battle the sinai no sooner had they gone done another wave of survey came in and did exactly the same and we watched these formations over the next. A couple of dollars every 4 minutes 5 minutes they would be comin across do an option is whats damages sacred to the Egyptian Air Force base which they literally obliterated. Oh all. While the war was going on who. We just just saw everything that was going on because it was only a mile from the airport so we saw the planes we saw were very big so let me know at times we stayed out on deck and we was just watching the the battle going on shore saw it round brand is mayor and the surrounding areas we watched it with a trace of bullets code red bullets we could there would be explosions gharyan and also but the catalyst there was said to us you know you play should be careful so we still watched it so we really didnt sleep much when i was 6 days. 6 days after the war began mr aziz ceased israeli tanks and troops attacking egypts Sinai Peninsula reached this it was can now israeli troops stood in the eastern side of the waterway on Egyptian Forces were massed on the western side in a standoff that gave both control of traffic on the canal. The egyptians reacted by closing the suez canal their goal was to physically prevent israel from having access to the canal so all ships were scuttled to make the canal impossible passenger ships would be allowed to complete their journeys but cargo vessels could go no further than the great better lake there they were instructed to drop anchor and wait for further developments this decision brought together 14 ships of different flags for british 2 west german 2 polish 2 from sweden. Friend one czechoslovakia and one bone gary and i did american vessel war and politics and wittingly assembled the yellow fleet. We became trapped because we. Very soon afterwards within a matter of days that a dread at being sunk it seemed to us training open or close on it at the North Entrance and as we understood it the that probably done the same thing to the south of us so the idea of us making in the scape Something Like that sunny to the south seemed too good to know that there was probably no possibility whatsoever. There was news subtle enough a geisha as there was no and donate no telephone to them like that and it was days the only thing it be how does that mean ships radio but you could communicate all over the world with. One for that this last stop by the egyptian authorities to stop us using that because lets face it we could possibly have sent in a lot enter lation as to what was going on so we bombed allowed to do that and to stop us from doing the we had a policeman on board each ship and his job was to look after the interests of the egyptian authorities and ensure that we did not use that radio. Shortly after we were there the captain of our ship thought we do need to get in touch with these other people and he made it his business to get in the lifeboat because the lifeboat was our taxi we lowered the ships like guy who got in our taxi and went right to all the other ships and suggested to those people where to make the best of this possibly cause. And the all agreed that this would be a really good idea from following on from that then they came up with another a number of unique ideas as to why they could best improve life for everybody on the lake. One of the lifeboats manned by one of the officers aboard a ship went to the israeli side and i think that they were taken assured by the israelis and sent back to london so at all costs we stead of the israeli side but there was an occasion and the early days when women died that a memo came from the egyptian side to say that any of fish any of the boats sailing side the perimeter of the ships in the canal will be shot upon. A couple of months past weve been told that the International Red cross were trying to talk to both parties egyptians and israelis. About what they could do for the crews who were trapped. The captain had decided that if we could keep push kalitan crew on board. Then the rest of the crew could be repatriated. And the egyptian authorities and the israelis authorities allowed an air callable from athens through to cairo. I was one of the Skeleton Crew of the young man i was 20 i was a seaman and all those the captains function that. Any advances that they can now would open we just needed sufficient crew to man the vessel and take it out to port side on the mediterranean side. I didnt really. Understand or appreciate what the dangers might have been at that point i just saw well ok and he only started on of our no money to i havent got children or older you know yet it should be me that stays here forever or however long it takes for this conflict to end i had no idea it was going to end up the way it did. As the guns fell silent what to do with the 14 cargo ships stranded in the middle of the canal became a problem that neither egypt nor israel was willing or able to resolve. The sailors on board seemed destined to be power minutely marooned in this isolated desert waterway communication with the outside world was tightly controlled with radio calls restricted to medical emergencies. The ships owners made a decision to rotate the crews so after 4 months or more each merchant seamen would be replaced even though there was little work to do apart from basic maintenance all the sailors continue to receive their food wages. Coming up in part to the yellow fleet crews devised different ways some quite ingenious to improve conditions on board. That we had a lot of big games being held in mexico in 1968 i think and so the polish ships decided