Desperate situation following the deadly blast in beirut earlier this month. For broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is r. T. International im sean thomas and certainly glad to have you with us now thousands of factory workers have downed their tools are demanding a rerun of last weeks election with many taking it to the streets right across the country president Alexander Lukashenko however has said a new role will only be possible if the constitution is amend it. Not in the but we need to adopt and you can situation you must adopt sits in a referendum because the previous constitution was adopted in the referendum and on dylan you can situation we can hold new elections if you want to pollinate the presidency and local authorities because the mass protests continue in belarus where the workers from a various a major manufacturers factories plants and other places have walked out on a National Strike im talking about said Different Industries ultimo they have metallurgy mining to name just a few now they have put forward their demands and they are in the elections with all of the candidates release of all Political Prisoners and dismissal of all those people who were responsible for the rigging of the election and the violation of human rights. Was. That was that. Was. Released that was look at 2nd visit if hell occasions where strikes are taking place and at one planned his departure was met with boos and whistles and angelica shank all the slogans thats after he warned the protesters that they might lose their jobs just to put on you if you dont want to work here fine if you just leave nobody will stop you or i to you for that you thought you would so please eat some tomorrow just girl sorry to put you in such harsh terms but at a time like this you have to be straight up wouldnt it. On sunday at least 65000 people came out in support of Alexander Lukashenko and thats in minsk alone according to official figures from the interior ministry he spoke to his supporters at length thanking them for their dedication and support now for many a bill or russians Alexander Lukashenko is a somewhat of a father figure who helped the country move out of the abyss back in the ninetys however not all of the people are happy with his 26 year tenure now earlier on monday r. T. Spoke to want to answer the question call protesters and heres what he said. We are really fed up with these people thats why we want to change this regime they beat my son when they release him and he came back he was so badly bruised that he couldnt even sit down so how should i work whats more important to me money or my children. Employees of the countrys largest t. V. Network also began their strike on monday and other Media Outlets and belarus also followed suit. Opponents in the president ial election that learn how to handle sco whos now in lithuania will share recorded and video address to her supporters saying that she is ready to become the national leader. We all want to break this endless circle that you go trapped in 26 years ago im ready to take responsibility and become the leader so as to come the country and lead to do turns in the months and. Pull the rally and support all father protesters in belarus continues in a russian capital as well for a 9th day in a row weve been here every day to cover it as you can see behind me well now the largest search now today theyre all largest one was recorded on saturday when this line of protesters extended beyond the block difference people here from all walks of life Angelica Shankar testers brolga shadow protester. But as you can see so far its all been peaceful. Much of the public anger in bellerose has been directed against the Security Forces and their harsh response to the unrest you can see the message in english lives that matter in these pictures from Independence Square in the capital archys. Reports from minsk. Theres a crowd of protesters here on Independence Square which is where theyve been gathering every evening there are factory workers who went on strike this morning and medics running outside the Health Ministry which is just off the square so its already become a tradition gathering day to day and like yesterday there were no special forces out here just metal barriers so everythings moving along quite peacefully people are chanting the same slogans against the president resign. And so on its noticeable that there are fewer people here today going on previous days there was already a sense of tiredness with no change in the situation here thought these are accusing antigovernment activists of violent behavior during the unrest video was released earlier on monday by the belorussian Investigative Committee it allegedly shows a man forcing a truck driver out of his vehicle at gunpoint according to investigators the protesters seized in the vehicle and used it to block a road meanwhile the e. U. Has confirmed it is drawing up sanctions against russian officials who are suspected of Election Fraud and violence against protesters some european lawmakers have challenged mr look. President while claiming theres a threat of russian interference arties peter oliver picks up a story for us. Well weve heard statements on monday from the number of the e. U. Institutions on the unfolding situation in belarus the European Parliament issued a statement in which they called for calm and for peace on the streets of minsk in other major cities but within that statement there was also a warning for russia we call on the Russian Federation to refrain from any interference covert or overt in bellerose following the election and call on the e. U. Institutions and Member States to vigilantly counter any russian actions in this regard the parliament wasnt the only European Institution to be charming in on monday we also heard from a high representative for Foreign Affairs your state bar l. Pretty much the e. U. s foreign minister he said that the protests that weve seen over the weekend particularly that huge one in minsk that the sheer numbers clearly show that the belorussian people want a change but he also announced that the e. U. Is currently drawing up a list of people that would be the target of e. U. Sanctions the e. U. Is working on a new listings for sanctions against those responsible for violence repression of peaceful protests and the fortification of Election Results so while the Parliament Says that russia must keep out of bellary says the e. U. Drawing up sanctions against russian officials hardly shows that they are willing to keep out of belarus themselves in fact senior figures Senior Leaders of Member States have been chime in saying that the e. U. Should get involved more should interfere more particularly money will not go on the french president now when it comes to how this is developing on monday the German Government confident that they have been holding talks with svetlana tickin of skier stefan whos the Spokes Person for the German Government confirmed that the talks had taken place but he wouldnt be drawn on what exactly had been discussed. Has taken off sky of course is in selfimposed isolation in lithuania another e. U. Member states and has expressed a want to be installed as an interim leader in belarus until fresh elections can take place but all of this coming from the e. U. Site doesnt really fit with that statement from the European Parliament but ultimately the message coming from brussels coming from the e. U. In general seems to be russia you dont get involved in belarus but we are certainly going to involve ourselves as much as we can. Well throughout the day we have been getting Expert Opinion on the events unfolding in bella ruse here are some of the reactions that weve had so far. I think there is a problem now theres a preconception in the west that russia could maybe. Be tempted to intervene in belarus by whatever means largely because were all looking back at whats happened in the rain. And i think maybe this is rather different but its not necessarily how it looks when you look at it from london people will be expecting that maybe russia will act as someone backing the European Union is playing employee began to roll in the roads and the they have her standards there because they criticize the visit bemis you of liquid single but theyre the same time we accept ground and we know that there is a gun to be where mr morgan has there more than 50000 of your poland in danger and there were one or sanctions against turkey so i assume that the European Union is there arent who didnt want to read self within the big. Melosa. And they are trying more or less like the rabid guy and the have so corner or answer that it will russian this is something unacceptable because of the problems of the middle of. The my membership and people themselves i think the principle position anyone should be taking would be to see that nought governments outside of belarus should be getting involved in this we should leave this to the people of belarus to decide their own future but of course thats not going to happen in todays world so i think the European Union imposing and threatening sanctions and tell you russia to keep the hands off is absolutely hypocritical but also the. Once again the exposes you know theres no. Deal with russia as an equal because russia is caught up in this is well i mean if it supports it will be cynical but hes no particular friend more school they must be worried its true but what the impact of all this is going to be so it should with the best they reach try and discover what is going on in the minds of. Im trying to put some sort of discussion which we brussels and bowen and most school. The lebanese president has said he is unable to resign as it would cause a power vacuum calls for michelle to go have been growing since the devastating chemical explosion that ripped through beirut support earlier this month last week of a lebanese cabinet including the Prime Minister resigned amid mass protests with people blaming the tragedy on government incompetence Recovery Efforts are still ongoing in beirut the disaster has put added strain on the country already in the throes of a crippling economic crisis earlier the International Community pledged some 300000000. 00 in aid to lebanon the blast killed 178. 00 injured thousands and left more than a quarter of a 1000000 people homeless. The u. S. Is offering a financial lifeline to lebanon but only if the government agrees to certain reforms arties done quarter comments. Massive explosions in beirut during his son rest in its wake and the government. Levanon the chaotic capital in ruins and leaders across the world have no doubt opened up the foreign aid relief valve as a result countries like germany the u. K. And even the u. S. Have stepped in to help out but when you accept money from washington you need to read the fine print when we see lebanese leaders committed to real change change in word and deed america and its International Partners will respond to systemic reforms with sustained Financial Support of course mr hale forgot to mention that u. S. Sanctions are what many to believe the key cause of lebanons economic woes but there is always someone who remembers. You have seen some countries hypocritically trying to portray themselves as defenders of the lebanese people and expressing sympathy for the lebanese people if they are honest they should remove these sanctions that they recently passed against the lebanese government nation and people and stop this hypocrisy and iran definitely knows how that feels that 1st donald trump said hed be willing to give coronavirus aid to iran if it asked for it then when the country needed a 5 1000000000. 00 loan from the i. M. F. To deal with the pandemic washington protested for some reason even the United Nations called on the u. S. To lift its sanctions against the country only to get a big fat no from pompei oh ive heard people talking about sanctions there know that the world should know there are no sanctions that prevent humanitarian assistance medical supplies pharmaceuticals from going to iran and war torn syria its a similar story washington announced a nearly 1000000000. 00 increase in 2020 humanitarian assistance at the very same time that it was creating a brand new sanctions regime against the country we are. Maximum political and economic pressure to suspend the imposition of the sanctions the government of syria must meet similar conditions. For a country in crisis thats not really difficult to get humanitarian aid from washington what they usually have to give in return however might not be that worth it. Is that facebook not only tolerating up but promoting Holocaust Denial in searches and we look into that after a short break this is our team trash. Joining me every thursday on the alex salmond show and ill be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business im show business ill see you then. This is R T International now facebook is under fire again u. K. Based counter Extremist Organization the institute for Strategic Dialogue or i s d has warned that the platforms algorithm promotes Holocaust Denial in unison with Holocaust Survivors across the world researchers are urging facebook to ban such content this misses the reason why people engage in Holocaust Denial in the 1st place denial of the holocaust is a deliberate tool used to deal with jews or minds the suffering of the jewish people and that but you wait long standing anti semitic troops and when people explicitly do this you should be seen as next of hatred research up by the i. S. D. N. Earth 36 of facebook pages dedicated to Holocaust Denial they had a combined total of more than 300000. 00 subscribers the group also found that searching the term holocaust and facebook returned a lot of related warped content leveled similar criticisms against twitter reddit and you tube Facebook Says it removes a false content only if it amounts to hate speech we remove groups and pages that discuss Holocaust Denial from recommendations and references to it in search predictions while we do not take down content simply for being on truthful many posts violate our policies against hate speech and are removed internet law expert. Says facebooks a duty to protect every member of the platforms community. The fact that facebook. Is classifying Holocaust Denial is legitimate political conversation is quite frightening thing such as. Should be banned from social media for the simple reason that it actively promotes hate it promotes violence against jewish people it should be. Removed from any website that purports to be a website for the people of facebook is not designed for a very nice type of people it is made for the entire world of the entire community in such Mr Zuckerberg has got the duty to protect. Jewish people as well. The u. K. Government has made a dramatic u. Turn in a school exam grading scandal students will now receive the grades that their teachers predicted for them in their final year a levels which are crucial for entry to University Examinations were canceled nationwide due to the pandemic the government had introduced an algorithm which adjusted to score predictions on the basis of each schools overall track record that led to 39 per cent of results being downgraded state schools especially from poorer regions were disproportionately affected by the downgrade with private schools enjoying a boom in high marks a fiasco sparked protests across to england and a demonstration in Central London students demanded the resignation of the education secretary while accusing the system of being classist we spoke to one people whose marks were far lower than she expected. When i open my results and saw stretes i went into complete shock. I went to complete meltdown and i thought my last was just completely over i think to me its a very clear case of discrimination i really feel for students like me and go to a further Education College or a 6 phone call it just a normal college really affected by this whereas they should have just based on the college that they go to that they have chosen to go to there are cases in in fact many cases where people dont do as well. But seem to really flourish a little so. This is theres no theres no theres no way of knowing what that student would have got other than the predictions that they were given by the teacher. To Us Police Officers are in the hospital after being hit by rocks thrown by black lives matter protesters in Portland Oregon police fired smoke grenades while demonstrators sprayed graffiti on the Sheriffs Office. Hundreds again came out in portland on