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Brussels on Highest Terror Alert; French Police Release Photo of Terror Suspect; The Curfew in Sens; Sixteen Injured in New Orleans Shootout; Paris Deals with New Security Reality; Mother of Paris Victim Shares Anguish; Band Members Give Emotional Account of Theater Attack; American Survivor Describes Mali Hotel Attack; Hemingway Book on Paris Sees Resurgence. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired November 23, 2015 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:20] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

(HEADLINES)

SESAY: Hello. And welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Isha Sesay, NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

It is 7:00 a.m. in Brussels where schools and subways are closed after authorities extended their highest terror threat level. That's in light of concerns about coordinated attacks, attacks like the ones in Paris last week. Brussels prime minister said shopping malls and mass transit are possible targets. Meantime police in Brussels staged 20 anti-terror raids on Sunday, they made 16 arrests. But they did not find Salah Abdeslam. He is believed to be an accomplice in the deadly attacks in Paris.

CNN's Nima Elbagir has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A night of raids here in Belgium. Even as it emerges with the man at the center of the international manhunt, well, there's no sign of him.

ERIC VAN DER SYPT, ERIC VAN DER SYPT BELGIUM FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Salah Abdeslam is not among the persons arrested during the searches.

ELBAGIR: This comes as the Belgian prime minister tells his citizens that the threat level will remain raised and that schools and the capital city's metro system will remain suspended. Belgian residents have had to deal with the reality of these raids. And here in the center of Brussels ongoing sweeps even as the police and military fan out across the Belgian capital. The threat level, the tension here, continues to remain high.

Nima Elbagir, CNN, Brussels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Well, French police have released a photo of a man who blew himself up in one of the Paris terror attacks. Their alert calls him the third suicide bomber at the Stade de France but does not give his name. Police are urging the public to come forward with any information about this man.

Well see as Max Foster is in Paris and he joins us now live.

Max, what more can you tell us about where the investigation stands right now?

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This as you say, just huge concern about where Salah Abdeslam is right now, and the assumption being that his in Brussels somewhere.

And we heard from his brother yesterday speaking to Brussels T.V. or in Belgian T.V. asking him to hand himself in. and suggesting, I should say, it was interesting that perhaps his brother had pulled out or decided to not go ahead with an attack at the last minute.

So the search very much on for him and they don't seem to be significant leads. Obviously that he's the big focus of the investigation. They don't know where he is. Suggestions he might be trying to get back to Syria, that he might have a suicide vest with him, frightening situation for people living in Brussels.

And in terms of that third Stade de France attacker, the photo released is all we have. They're appealing for information. They obviously don't want to give up too much information and they play into a live investigation. So we don't know why they're not releasing more information. All they're saying is have you seen this man. If you have, send any information in. there's been an on going issue as well, Isha, about how the agencies within countries, security agencies but also between countries on sharing information quickly enough.

Criticism of the Belgian authorities not giving the French authorities enough information early on, perhaps they could have acted more swiftly after the attack, if that was the case. But right now it just seems though everyone is trying to work together as closely as possible and asking the public to get involved as well, asking them to be their eyes and ears.

So what information they can release they are releasing. But they're being very careful about giving too much away at the same time, Isha.

SESAY: Yeah, the threat level is still incredibly high there in France.

Max, you know, it's just past 7:00 in the morning Monday where you are. I got to ask you, as the workweek begins, what's the mood like there in Paris?

FOSTER: Well, it's interesting. People are just sort of getting up and starting to go back to work. I think today is going to be a very interesting test really. Because it is the day where everyone is really expect just to go back to work and back to school. And there's a real sense of defiance that must carry on and people very much of the intention to live their normal lives. They're not going to succumb to the fear that ISIS are trying to spread in this city. But you cannot get away from the fact that there are armed soldiers on the streets. And many more police, a hundred thousand police in Dijon (ph) have been deployed across France.

[01:05:11] So that is there. With the exception that that needs to be there and children are going to have their bags checked Isha, going in to schools today. They're going to be asked not gather in groups, all this season, when they want to smoke, they want to -- they being ask to smoke away from buildings, parents being asked to drop their kids off at school, not to gather outside the school.

So there's that sense of fear that still there but a sense of defiance that life must carry on. It's going to be interesting to see how many people do go in to work today and how many kids go to school. But certainly a sense of fear as well about exposing themselves in crowded places.

SESAY: Yeah. No doubt. Max, let me ask you about this French town, the town in Sens that had a nighttime curfew imposed. Tell us more on why that happened?

FOSTER: Well it's interesting because after the attacks, this nighttime curfew was put in place. Some small town in France, the curfew is in some -- it's over but as Nic Robertson reports from there, some residents that really understand why their town was actually singled out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Southeast of Paris the Sunday market in Sens is busy. A few hours earlier it would have been illegal to be here. There was a curfew. And that upset some residents.

They're making this all too dramatic, this trader tells me. There are no problems here. The curfew between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. is the first of its kind in France since emergency powers were imposed last week and applies only to this, the pleasant fields neighborhood of Sens. An area that includes low cost housing, has a reputation on fairly locals say for low-end crime and very occasional confrontation with police. The new powers are prompting debate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... compared to the rest of the town.

ROBERTSON: And that's not good?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. I find it's not good. That's exactly the contrary of what we should do.

ROBERTSON: The curfew was imposed here after police raids turned up some weapons and false documents. Several people were taken into custody but most of those have been released now. At the city center Catholics celebrating one of the world's oldest gothic cathedrals although several hours from Paris, all in this tiny tourist city fear another ISIS attack.

The curfew was intended to make place raids easier. When I meet the mayor, however, she seems unsure if the curfew that ends Monday is worth the division it's causing.

MARIE LOUISE FORT, SENS MAYOR, (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I want to guarantee the tranquility of the entire population, even if it means limiting the liberties of some, she says. But the curfew was not my decision. It was a decision of the state.

ROBERTSON: Back in pleasant fields, Ahmad Zina who runs a cafe and help some of to privilege kids, was shocked how fast the curfew was imposed but worked to support it.

AHMAD ZINA, COMMUNITY SOCIAL SERVICE ORGANIZATION, (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We respect the curfew, he says. It was necessary for the police to do their work safely. Most here feel the same but worry in the rush to follow terror leads jobs maybe lost. More problems created.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People don't have to be afraid to come here, you know, it's a tourist city, around the nice place in this country.

ROBERTSON: So far no terrorists have been found and few here expect they will.

Nic Robertson, Sens, France.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: In terms of wider response, Isha, to what happened here in Paris it's going to a very high level indeed, as you can imagine, David Cameron flying in to meet President Hollande today.

President Hollande has got a serious of very high level meetings over the course of the week with key allies. So build a grand coalition against ISIS to attack them in their homeland. So he's meeting Obama, meeting Merkel, he's even meeting President Putin in Moscow later on this week.

The ultimate response really to attack here in France is to go against ISIS in their homeland. And that's going to be a very interesting course of events over this week whether or not he can bring together military cooperation effectively between the U.S. and Russia to fight the attackers here on French soil.

SESAY: International diplomacy taking the forefront in this fight against ISIS in the coming days.

Max foster there in Paris, thank you Max.

Well, U.S. President Barack Obama is headed back to Washington after his visit to Asia last week, he landed at joint base Andrews in Maryland a short time ago.

During a time in Malaysia Sunday, he sharpened his rhetoric about ISIS slamming the terror group.

[01:10:02] CNN's Jim Acosta has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARRACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Overseas for more than a week but well aware of a fearful nation back home, President Obama sounded more like a leader at war.

OBAMA: Our coalition will not relent, destroying ISIL is not only realistic goal, we're going the get it done and we're going pursue it with every aspect of American power and with all the coalition partners that we've assembled. It's going to get done.

ACOSTA: At a news conference in Malaysia the president once again defended his strategy for defeating is. But instead of brushing off questions about his policy as he did last week, he acknowledged Americans are deeply worried.

OBAMA: That we're not afraid, to not elevate them, to somehow buy in to their fantasy that they're doing something important. They're a bunch of killers. And we fight them and we beat them.

ACOSTA: The president said he just may be able to join forces with Russian President Vladimir Putin to wipe out the terror group after the attacks in paris and on the Metrojet airliner.

OBAMA: I discussed with President Putin in a brief pull aside his need to recognize that he needs to go after the people who killed Russian citizens.

ACOSTA: And he called on Americans to show compassion to the thousands of Syrian refugees he wants to welcome into the U.S., despite poll numbers showing Americans are resistant to the idea.

OBAMA: Refugees who end up in the United States are the most vetted, scrutinized, thoroughly investigated individuals that ever arrive on American shores.

ACOSTA: The president also appeared to have choice words for Donald Trump.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want surveillance of these people.

ACOSTA: And the GOP front-runners' proposal to conduct more surveillance on the Muslims in the U.S.

OBAMA: We must absolutely reject that we are somehow at war with an entire religion. Prejudice and discrimination helps ISIL. ACOSTA: Knocked back on his heels after his initial response to Paris attacks was widely panned this sometimes more cerebral president ended this foreign trip speaking from the gut, urging Americans to avoid giving in to fear.

OBAMA: Hello. How are you all doing?

ACOSTA: A point he punctuated with a stop to a refugee center in Malaysia. A visit Mr. Obama reflected on as he left the country.

OBAMA: If you are a parent and you saw those kids, and you thought about what they had gone through, the notion that we couldn't find a home for them anywhere in the United States of America? That's -- that is contrary to our values. The most powerful tool we have to fight ISIL is to say that we're not afraid.

ACOSTA: As soon as the president returns to Washington he's scheduled to welcome French President Francois Hollande for a critical meeting at the White House on the war against is. It's a war the french president wants to ratchet up. The key question is whether President Obama will join him.

Jim Acosta, CNN, with the president in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Well the front-runners of the U.S. Republican presidential race are speaking bluntly about the plan to bring more Syrian refugees to the country. That story is just ahead.

Plus, more than a dozen people are injured when shooting breaks out in a New Orleans park.

Details coming up

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[01:17:47] SESAY: A developing story from the U.S. this hour. 16 people were injured in a shootout in New Orleans Sunday night. Police say hundreds of people were gathered at a playground to film a music video when two groups began firing at each other.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL HARRISON, NEW ORLEANS POLICE CHIEF: This event took place in a number of people were in the playground, several hundred people. We were advised of that. The commander here, Commander Goalie, assigned people to come to close the park down because it was not permitted. And as the officers were approaching they were about a block away when they heard gunshots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Witnesses tell police that both groups immediately took off after the shooting. Detectives are now searching for surveillance video of the suspects. Well, Donald Trump once again tops the field of U.S. Republican presidential candidates. A new poll shows him holding a considerable lead over his nearest rival Ben Carson, this despite his controversial comments about a U.S. plan to take in more refugees from Syria.

CNN's Chris Frates has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A new ABC/Washington Post poll out today shows that Donald Trump continues to lead the GOP field and he has a double digit lead with 32 percent support. Ben Carson running a close second behind Trump with 22 percent, and the only other Republican with double digit support here is Marco Rubio, he's coming in at 11 percent.

Now this poll comes after a week of well heated rhetoric on the campaign trail over whether to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States amid fears that ISIS terrorists could be among them.

Carson compared some refugees to rabid dogs and Trump said he considers shutting down mosques and endorse tracking U.S. Muslims in a database, an idea he doubled down on Sunday.

TRUMP: I want a data base for the refugees that if they come into the country. We have no idea who these people are. When the Syrian refugees are going to start pouring in to this country we don't know if they're ISIS, we don't know if it's a Trojan horse. I definitely want a database and other checks and balances.

FRATES: The controversial comments, hasn't seem to hurt Trump or Carson's standing. In fact more than half of the surveys oppose taking in refugees from Syria. And despite the Paris attacks the economy still tops the list of issues most important to voters, followed closely by terrorism.

[01:20:03] And among Republicans polled, the most important attribute they want in a candidate is someone who can change Washington. And that's a measure where Trump dominates. At Trump rally in Alabama on Sunday at least a half a dozen white attendees shoved, tackled, punched and kicked a black protester who disrupted Trump speech.

On Sunday Trump suggested the violence was justified.

TRUMP: Maybe he should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.

FRATES: Police told CNN that three people were asked to leave the event. No arrests were made. And the protester did not require medical attention.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: CNN Chris Frates, reporting there.

Well, our Brian Levin now to discuss all of this. He is a professor at California State University, San Bernardino and director at the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.

Brian, thank you so much for being with us.

BRIAN LEVIN, PROFESSOR & DIR, CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF HATE & EXTREMISM: Thank you.

SESAY: It's worth pointing out that while GOP presidential candidates are clearly making a political calculation with their statements, their statements are in line with more than half of the U.S. population that don't favor letting in Syrian refugees.

LEVIN: That's true. But I also think that there's a difficulty with regard to the analysis. I think people are confused. So let's step back.

SESAY: OK.

LEVIN: We're not talking about people who are coming right off a boat somewhere. And we don't know anything about them. There's an 18 to 24- month vetting process. And many of these folks are people who have been singled out for terrible abuse and intimidation because of who they are. Many of them are oftentimes people who have been supporters of the United States and our allies. So let's get that straight.

SESAY: Men and women and children.

LEVIN: Absolutely. Absolutely, I mean, let's stop and I'm someone who's involved in counterterrorism analysis for many, many years.

A 3-year-old child washes up dead on a beach in Turkey with these little sneakers. I'm a father. My father was a POW, John McCain was a POW. These folks know what war can do.

We have a moral obligation for what a pluralistic democracy America is to take in this minimal number of refugees who are at the most vulnerable. Are there things we can do to improve this? Absolutely.

Vetting perhaps can be done a little better. Can we get more information? Absolutely.

But let's look at data. That's my job as a professor and someone who's running the center and who is testified before congress on things like this.

Where I brought up the issue last month about refugees 784,000 since 9/11, three cases out of 784,000 I defy you to find a risk similar to that. Yeah, is the risk going to increase because, A, the paucity and the depth...

SESAY: You say it will somewhat.

LEVIN: Yes, yes. I imagine everyone who raises questions about this is a bigot or anything like that. But let's look at people like John McCain who, like my mother, said, all children are god's children. Are we going to make the same mistake we made with respect to intermittent Japanese-Americans and with regard to turning away ships of Jews who then were sent back.

We have to do something. We have countries like Lebanon which have increased their population by 25 percent.

SESAY: And I was going to say because you have to put this in context. We're talking about 10,000 Syrians when countries like Germany are taking closer million is the expectation by the end of the year.

LEVIN: Yes, and look, there's a risk in anything in life. Absolutely. But it's a suboptimal choice for ISIS to try and use this very lengthy route to get people in. Could they? Yes. Maybe? Perhaps. But let's look at the risk, 3 out of 784,000 retrospectively. Of course I've always warned don't just rely on retrospective data. ISIS is expanding its operations.

SESAY: And you're not underplaying the ISIS threat here. You're not, you know, trying to say people shouldn't be concerned about national security. Let's put that...

LEVIN: Oh sure, we've had 55 arrests, at least 55 arrests so far this year in the United States. Seventy-one since 2014 involving ISIS, ISIS is a big and expanding threat. When I testified before congress I said some of these Jihadists led by ISIS are at the top of our threat matrix.

We went from nine people a month traveling overseas to about six a month. We are in a big battle, a war with ISIS, absolutely.

SESAY: Let many we ask you this. This kind of rhetoric that is playing out has an impact not just on those trying to come in, in the sense that they may not be allowed to flee terror but also on those who are already here. Refugees and Muslims already here, correct?

LEVIN: Of course look, we have Mr. Trump talking about closing down mosques. We have him talking about not a database for refugees, which is I was just talking about today, a database of all Muslims. Perhaps you should read the constitution. Perhaps you should look at what happened during World War II.

[01:25:05] We have Ted Cruz, whose accomplished lawyer, by the way, and a Princeton grad talking about a religious test for the entry of refugees. How about a test for who is the most vulnerable and the least risk? How about elderly, children? Things like that.

And we have Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon. These are educated people saying, well, this is like looking at a rabid dog. We have to tone down the rhetoric and let's look at where the threat is. And where the threat is, is let's look at our visa waiver program, I'm not talking about trashing it, I'm talking about making some enhancement to it because the 19 hijackers that did 9/11 came here on visas, they weren't coming here as refugees, also looking at the terror watch list and the ability of over 2,000 purchases over 90 percent of the people on the terror watch list being able to buy weapons here in the United States. And people who are here on the terror watch list buying weapons in the United States. Let's talk about that as well. And we have bipartisan support, Peter King from New York, a Republican, Dianne Feinstein, from California Democrat, wanting to look at that as well.

SESAY: Brian, it is great to have you here. So you can break down the data. I mean that's important to actually look at the facts and we're so pleased you were able to do that for us. Thank you.

LEVIN: Thank you so much. And thank you again for paying attention to these people who are so desperately suffering. We have a moral obligation as a beacon to the world to take in this minimal number of people.

SESAY: Brian, great to have you with us.

LEVIN: Thank you.

SESAY: Ahead on NEWSROOM L.A., a mother's agonizing wait for news about her son after the Paris terror attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: You looked for your son for three days?

NELLY LECLERC, MOTHER OF TERROR VICTIM, (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We always had hope, until the very last minute, even until we went to go see him, and then it was over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:13] SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

(HEADLINES)

SESAY: And now let's go back to Paris. It's the city on the mend, dealing with a new reality when it comes to security.

Max Foster is there.

Max, it's a city filled with families still coming to terms with the loss of their loved ones.

FOSTER: Yeah, there was this moment today where there's a sense of defiance within Paris, certainly, that life should carry on. Social media campaigns built around that over the weekend. People went out to the bistros to show they are in defiance of these ISIS attackers. Today, children are going back to school. But the difference this week is they'll have their bags checked and parents have to drop them off so there aren't crowds gathering outside schools, which could be attractive to attackers. They're living in this new environment of police and soldiers walking around with guns, as well, just through areas of Paris where you wouldn't have seen them in the past. Also still trying to digest what happened two Fridays ago here in

Paris. So more information coming out all the time. A lawyer representing one of the drivers of Salah Abdeslam, the eighth attacker who is still on the run, suggesting that he has a suicide belt on and that he was very upset on the way back to Brussels as they drove him and could have set it off. That man is still on the run, possibly with a suicide vest over in Brussels. And his brother was speaking to Belgian TV as well, saying he thinks probably his brother decided not to carry out the attack in Paris and decided to leave instead. So people trying to digest all of these authorities, and the fact that he's still alive and on the run, it's an extraordinary situation here in Paris, still under a state of emergency here.

David Cameron arriving today, the prime minister of the U.K., in what's been described as a diplomatic dash by the French president. Now he's building a coalition against is, and he's meeting David Cameron, a key ally. He'll go on to meet President Obama on Tuesday in Brussels.

The French chancellor will be coming here to Paris for another meeting with President Hollande. He then goes to Moscow to meet with president Putin on Thursday. Even next Sunday, he'll be meeting the president of China. What President Hollande is trying to do is bring all the major powers together to fight ISIS in Syria and Iraq. There are diplomatic efforts that need to be smoothed over, particularly the relationship between Russia and the U.S., whether or not they can work together militarily. But this is the French president's moment to bring together that coalition. His ratings have gone up in the last week because he's been seen as a strong leader in this time of crisis in France.

SESAY: Max, while diplomacy takes center stage, we must not forget about the victims of these terror attacks, so many people whose lives were tragically cut short.

We're hearing from the mother of one victim who is just basically sharing her anguish.

FOSTER: Absolutely, the mother of just one of the Paris attack victims. The search for her son for three days before learning he had been killed in the Bataclan Theater.

She spoke in her first U.S. interview with CNN's Poppy Harlow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Nelly Leclaire (ph) weeps as she recalls her son, Geo (ph), as a touching, caring, sensitive man, always ready to help his family.

"He was magnificent," she tells me. "He and the love of his life, Marianne, went out for an evening of fun that Friday night."

Taking this selfie inside the theater, waiting for the band to play. It would be their last picture together. Geo (ph) threw his body over Marianne, saving her life. But word of Geo's (ph) condition eluded the family for three days. (voice-over): You looked for your son for three days?

[01:35:] NELLY LECLAIRE (ph), (through translation): We always had hope, until the very last minute, even until we went to go see him, and then it was over. It was very hard.

HARLOW: You can't believe it's over?

LECLAIRE (ph) (through translation): We always hoped during the last three days.

HARLOW: You always had hope in those three days?

(voice-over): The 32-year-old florist and adventurer died that night in the attack on the Bataclan.

(on camera): Tell me about the love between Geo (ph) and Marianne.

LECLAIRE (ph) (through translation): They were very, very -- they were two beings that were very compatible.

HARLOW (voice-over): Nelly says her son and Marianne were soul mates, two loves who had found each other and never shared a harsh word.

(on camera): If you were to look the person in the eye who killed your son, what would you say to them?

LECLAIRE (ph) (through translation): I would tell him he doesn't even deserve that we consider him a human being. It's not a human being. It's not possible. He isn't part of humanity. It's not possible people like this. Even animals don't do this between themselves. It's not possible. It's a monster.

HARLOW (voice-over): But in the face of evil, there is also pure beauty.

(on camera): Tell me about those flowers.

LECLAIRE (ph) (through translation): It was something that he was planning on doing for her before this all happened.

HARLOW (voice-over): His sister, Alexandra, tells us about the 200 roses her brother ordered for his girlfriend on their anniversary. They were delivered just days after he died.

ALEXANDRA LECLAIRE (ph) (through translation): It was to show his love for her. Unfortunately he didn't have the time to give it to her himself. We were the messengers for him in his last gift. Marianne said, even when he's not there, he still manages to surprise me.

HARLOW: What do you want the world to know about your brother?

ALEXANDRA LECLAIRE (ph): My brother was a very special boy.

(through translation): He did things, but not out of self-interests. He did it naturally because he liked to and because it made him happy to help people. He was always there for everyone.

HARLOW (voice-over): She tells me she will write a letter for him, to tell him everything that she didn't have a chance to say.

(on camera): What is in your heart?

ALEXANDRA LECLAIRE (ph) (through translation): At the bottom of my heart, that I'll never be able to touch him again.

HARLOW (voice-over): Nelly still can't believe she won't hold her son again.

(on camera): He was your baby?

LECLAIRE (ph) (through translation): Yes.

HARLOW: It's not just. It's not just. It's unbelievable.

LECLAIRE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

HARLOW (voice-over): Poppy Harlow, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Isha, the victims still very much in memory here. This is the focal point for many people. They come to this memorial, put a candle, some flowers around it. There will be a national memorial on Friday, so it's going to be a very emotional series of memorials leading up to that big national moment on Friday.

SESAY: So much pain.

Max Foster joining us there from Paris. Max, thank you.

Well, two members of the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal are giving a firsthand account of what they witnessed when terrorists stormed into their performance at the Bataclan Theater.

In a very emotional interview with "Vice," the men recounted the horror and the unselfish reasons so many people lost their lives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED BAND MEMBER: Several people hid in our dressing room and the killers were able to get in and killed every one of them, except for a kid who was hiding under my leather jacket.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So killers got in your dressing room?

UNIDENTIFIED BAND MEMBER: Yeah. People were playing dead and they were so scared. A great reason so many were killed is because so many people wouldn't leave their friends. So many people put themselves in front of people.

(END VIDEO CLIP) [01:39:24] SESAY: Take a look at this photo with me. This photo was taken in the moments before the shooting began. 89 people were killed in the Bataclan attack, including the band's vice manager and three representatives from their record label.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: The death toll from Friday's attack on a popular hotel in Mali has risen to 22 according to the U.N. The country's president has declared three days of national mourning for the victims of the brutal siege.

Our David McKenzie sat down with one American survivor who described her harrowing ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the wake of Mali's horrifying terror attack, new stories of survival are emerging. I spoke to an American specialist of the Centers for Disease Control, who was about to check out when the shooting began.

KATHIE PATAKAS (ph), MALI HOTEL TERROR ATTACK SURVIVOR & SPECIALIST, U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: I e-mailed my husband and I said something like, there's something going on, and I want you to know that I love you. And then when a few hours later, when the fire down the hallway, I wrote another e-mail and I said, I do believe there are shooters here, and if I don't make it, I want you to know I love you. And my family, but I am coming home.

I do this because I love doing this work, and where we are in the world that we need to continue on.

MCKENZIE: You're committed to the work no matter what?

PATAKAS (ph): No matter what. This wasn't about Mali. This is about what I call idiots. I'll be back.

MCKENZIE: Was there any moment where you thought, OK, this is it? This is the end of the road?

PATAKAS (ph): When the shooting came down the hallway, I was more nervous. I wasn't sure. But it wasn't going to end. I was going home. I knew I was going home. That's the end of it.

MCKENZIE: So when the signal came, what went through your head?

PATAKAS (ph): Oh, gosh. I'm so glad to see you guys. I don't know much French but I could say -- (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE). I said it all the way down the hall and I'll say it again. These guys, every one of them that I mentioned put their lives on the line for me that day, and I so appreciate that. And there's a group of people who didn't make it out. And my heart goes out to their families. But I believe they were here doing what they love and what they're committed to. And if that day were to come for me, someone would be saying that about me, as well. MCKENZIE: The presidents of Mali and Senegal toured the Radisson

Hotel on Sunday and vowed that they will be unbowed by the terror threats.

David McKenzie, CNN, Bamako, Mali.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:45:13] SESAY: We're joined now by Juliette Kayyem.

Juliette, great to have you on the show.

A week after the Paris terrorist attacks, we saw an attack in Mali. In your view, was the Mali attack tied to local politics or an attempt to capitalize on the recent terror that played out in Paris?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It was a combination of both. I mean, anyone who had been following what was going on in Mali knew the terrorism that they were facing, the rise of Islamic terrorist organizations. France had come in to clean them out in the last couple of years. But an attack like that was timed to correspond or follow up on what happened in Paris. And the reason why that is true is because it was a relatively simple attack in the hotel. Very few people were involved. They just walk into a room, kill as many people as possible. And so in some ways, the simplicity suggests that they put it together relatively quickly to feed off of everyone's fear.

SESAY: This wasn't an attack carried out by ISIS. This was, in fact, carried out by an al Qaeda affiliate, which claimed responsibility. What can you tell us about this African jihadi group?

KAYYEM: Well, this is al Qaeda more generally. For some time, anybody that's been studying al Qaeda knows they've been waiting for moments to assert their relevance, because they're not the same as is, but are vying for the same people, for recruitment, access to money, and in some ways access to geography or relevance in various countries. So their sort of rise in Africa is very much linked to the fall of Libya, and we see them acting now consistently with what they've told us in the past, which is al Qaeda is still relevant, they're not dead yet, so to speak, and aligning with sort of Islamic terrorist organizations to launch an attack. So you are seeing this split amongst organization. To the outside person they may look all the same, but this is a strategic fight amongst various groups.

SESAY: The fact that this group struck a high-profile Western hotel with an international clientele, the concern has to be that groups like ISIS and al Qaeda will turn their attention to Western interests beyond Europe's boarders. How do you see it?

KAYYEM: I think that's very true, and I -- looking at this from afar, it's hard to make a judgment call. But it did not appear to be that there was extensive security at the hotel. A lot of these are Western chains, so they'll have to be responsible for increased security, maybe bringing in people from other countries to ensure that there's a buttressing of the hotel and the physical security for an international clientele. So I think that is going to be very important in the future, because these targets, a hotel chain, maybe a foreign sporting team coming into a European country, all of them are going to be targets at this stage. It doesn't mean they're all at risk or everything is horrible. I mean that honestly. It just means that ISIS or al Qaeda is focused on what might be called these sort of urban targets, that this matters to them now, to have an audience and to have large density of people so that the impact of even just two guys walking into a hotel or just a few people is quite significant.

SESAY: Juliette Kayyem, there with great insight. Juliette, appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Next on NEWSROOM L.A., bookstores across Paris are quickly selling out of an Ernest Hemingway book, "A Movable Feast," the writer's love letter to the city of light.

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[01:50:47] DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good day. I'm CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam, with a quick look at your Monday.

(WEATHER REPORT)

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SESAY: Since the terror attacks in Paris, one particular novel has been flowing off the shelves in bookstores across the French capital, "A Movable Feast" by Ernest Hemingway, the writer's ode to Paris.

Our Ivan Watson has more on the book's recent resurgence.

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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "All of the sadness of the city came suddenly, with the first cold rains of winter." That's a line from "A Movable Feast," a memoir about life in Paris in the 1920s, written by Ernest Hemingway. The book is his love letter to the city of light, celebrating its cafes and cobblestone streets, immortalizing an English-language book shop, where you can find a first-edition copy of the American writer's iconic book.

(on camera): Hemingway's book is pretty much required reading for most visitors to Paris. What's unexpected is that it has also become a source of comfort for many of the French in the wake of the deadly Paris attacks.

(voice-over): At book shops across Paris, owners have seen a sudden spike in sales of French versions of Hemingway's 51-year-old novel.

(on camera): What is your number-one selling novel right now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "A Movable Feast" from Ernest Hemingway.

WATSON: Do you have anymore copies?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it's sold out now.

WATSON: Sold out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Completely.

WATSON (voice-over): Part of the appeal is clearly symbolic. The French title of "A Movable Feast" translates back into English as "Paris is a party."

This man says he's buying the book to remind himself that the city of light is also a city that loves to party.

"We have to live, we have to go out," he says, "and we have to stick out our tongues at the terrorists."

[01:55:06] Shop owners say they've also seen a surge of interest in books about Islamist radicalism, but those sales don't compare to the rediscovery of Hemingway's book, no doubt boosted by the fact that it's also become a hash tag slogan of defiance on French social media.

(MUSIC)

WATSON: As many honor the dead --

(MUSIC)

WATSON: -- others are determined to live up to Hemingway's immortal words. "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris," he writes --

(SINGING)

WATSON: -- "then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast."

(SINGING)

(CHEERING)

WATSON: Ivan Watson, CNN, Paris.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: And you are watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

The news continues with Rosemary Church and Errol Barnett right after this.

[02:00:03] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: The manhunt intensifies. 16 people arrested in raids across Brussels. But the suspect linked to the Paris terror attacks remains on the run.