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Israel Says, Dozens of Rockets Intercepted After Being Fired from Lebanon; Protests in Nashville as Three Democratic Lawmakers Could Be Expelled; Paris Pension Protests Turn Violent. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired April 06, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are continuing following breaking news on multiple fronts. Let's start with a major escalation in the Middle East right now. The Israeli military officials say dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel today. What you're looking at is what they believe is some of those rockets being intercepted by the iron dome. This marks the largest attack coming from Lebanon since 2006. Officials in Israel say some of them, as I mentioned, were intercepted, but unclear how many.

Lebanon now says that Israel is also responding with artillery fire. All of this comes amid tensions over Israeli police operations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

CNN's Hadas Gold is back with us from Jerusalem. Hadas, tell me the very latest that's coming in.

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know now that, Kate, two people have been injured as a result of shrapnel from these rockets. That's according to Israeli Emergency Services. This coming after what Israeli officials say, were dozens of rockets that were fired from Lebanon into the northwest part of Israel.

And as you noted, this is the largest barrage of rockets that Israel has seen from Lebanon likely since 2006 when there was that massive war with Hezbollah. And so, I mean, it's been a very long time we've seen these number of rockets. We've seen one-off rockets, literally one or two fired over the past few years, usually in response to whatever is happening either here in Jerusalem or in Gaza, but this is new and this is just massive on scale when you compare to what's been happening in the past.

Now, the Israeli security cabinet will be convening and the Israeli military, the minister of defense, they are now considering their options. We do know from Lebanese news agencies saying that the Israeli military has already been with artillery fire. We should keep an eye though on the skies, see if Israeli military jets will be engaging in strategic airstrikes, and then, of course, if this could escalate into something further. Again, everything here is connected. So, over the past few days, we've been reporting here in Jerusalem on what's been happening at the holy site, so the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, also known as the Temple Mount to Jews. Israeli police have been raiding the mosque itself now twice in 24 hours, is what they did, they said, to remove people who are barricading themselves inside with fireworks and throwing stones.

But just the police entering the mosque and then entering the mosque, as we saw them do with violence, with stun grenades and rubber bullets and violently arresting more than 350 people, that is a red line for many Muslims and Arabs, but especially for these militant groups around this region. The big question, of course, is who fired these rockets.

Now, based off of where they were fired from, that area of Southwest Lebanon, there's a lot of Palestinian refugee camps. And so it could be Palestinian militant groups who are located there. But the Israeli military believes that nothing happens in Southern Lebanon without at least the tacit approval of Hezbollah.

So, the question will be will the Israeli military hold Hezbollah accountable. And so will there be striking Hezbollah targets if they do respond? That is a major fear of that could escalate into a full blown war. And the arsenal that Hezbollah has, the missiles and rockets that they have, much bigger, much more sophisticated, can cause much more damage than what we've seen in the last few years with rockets and wars with militants in Gaza. This will be on another level that we haven't seen here in decades. Kate?

BOLDUAN: And, Hadas, since we spoke last hour, I was looking back in what it what it seems are a series of unrelated kind of clashes and events on a smaller scale coming from Lebanon into Israel. And it seems -- is this is this something that that in Israel they've seen as something building -- this has been building up to this over the past few weeks?

GOLD: Well, yes. I mean, listen, there have been one-off. I'm talking about one, two rockets that would have been fired from Lebanon into Northern Israel, usually in relation to what's happening here. Actually, one rocket was fired during very similar clashes at Al-Aqsa at this same time period last year when Passover and Ramadan overlapped, but it was just one rocket. We're talking about dozens of rockets now. There's alarms going off in several villages and towns along the northern border. My app that tells me when the sirens are going off around the country here, it was buzzing sort of incessantly for at least 20 minutes there.

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So, this is on a new level. It's not clear again if this is a Palestinian militant group, if this is Hezbollah, what is the connection here, but it is definitely on a level not seen before. And I think we should expect to see an Israeli military response on a level we have not seen before. And then there is a big concern that that will just further spiral into something even larger, potentially even a full blown war. BOLDUAN: Yes. When that response comes and what that response is, that's the critical question in this moment. Let's see what happens in the next few hours. Hadas, thank you very much for the update. Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: A big question this morning is whether these three Tennessee Democratic lawmakers will actually lose their jobs today, not by the voters they represent but by their colleagues, the Republican majority in the statehouse. Next hour, the chamber is set to begin voting on whether to expel Democrats Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson.

And here's the reason that Republicans are giving for this. The three protested on the statehouse floor last week calling for gun reform after six people, including those three nine-year-olds were killed in a shooting at a Tennessee elementary school.

CNN's Ryan Young is following all of this from Nashville. Republicans have been talking about this, and I need to find out from you. You're with the crowd out there who has been protesting. What's happening at this hour? Because we're getting close to this vote, are we not?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, you can look behind me and see just thousands of people have lined up here since the last time we were talking. They've been pouring in and they really have been passionate about what they want to know here because they want to see some change when it comes to the gun laws.

And on top of all that, you can see what's happening in the capital right now. The protesters here really want to make it inside as well because they want to be a part of this process. But, of course, when you think about this, this all comes down to those three lawmakers using the bullhorn on the state floor. They said that's not a part of the quorum. If the Republicans want those three members out, they can certainly make this happen. But when you come back outside, you can see the thousands of people who are still lined up and try to get inside.

Now, if you see here, Sara, these are teachers who have lined up today who are obviously very upset about what's been going on in the state. And, Deborah, you're a first grade teacher.

DEBORAH CASTELLANO, FIRST GRADE TEACHER IN NASHVILLE: Yes, yes.

YOUNG: What has this week been like for you as a teacher to see the emotions behind all this and what do you want people to know?

CASTELLANO: I want people to know that this is not a political issue. It's a child issue. If you if you wash away Democrat, Republican, it's about kids. And do we want them to be safe or not? I will stand in front of children and protect as many as I can with my body, as well all of these ladies, but we shouldn't have to, and those kids shouldn't be afraid. And you just need to drop your pride and decide what you really care about. That's what I feel. And if you had to look at those little kids every day and know what they deserve, I think people would feel the same way. YOUNG: We've had this conversation. You're almost -- you are very upset that it seems like it's turned into a Republican/Democrat issue instead of being about the kids.

CASTELLANO: It should be about the children. And that's why we originally came. I'm wearing red to stand for the Covenant School. And it should be about that issue. I respect people exercising their freedom to demonstrate but I think it's a distraction. And it's -- that's what always happens. We're sad and then we get distracted and we move on. And just like everyone else says, when will it stop?

YOUNG: As a teacher, you mediate a lot of fights. If you could talk to the children, I guess at this point, what would you want them to know about how we should move forward and how we should handle the situation?

CASTELLANO: I would say to speak the truth and love and respect one another.

YOUNG: Are you worried at all being a teacher at this point going to school every day, maybe even thinking that tomorrow could be your school?

CASTELLANO: I have been for a long time. I was a teacher when Sandy Hook happened. I was teaching kindergarten. And all the parents look at you, like would you do it for my kid? Yes, I would. But it's scary. And the moms who are here with little babies and children, my kids are grown now, you know, they're scared. Are they going to come home to their kids? Are their kids going to come home?

YOUNG: How hard should we fight for this in terms of trying to make our kids even safer than what they are?

CASTELLANO: I think we need to fight with every fiber of our being, with -- we need to look at it as a humanitarian issue, not a political issue. And when are people going to be done looking at it as a hard left or a hard right, but we need to look at it, what -- you know, not be distracted and look at it as it's for the kids. It's for the children, you know? And I don't know how you could face a child and say what I think politically is more important, my demographics are more important, my political future is more important than your life.

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That's wrong.

YOUNG: I appreciate you. Thank you for your service and thank you, ladies.

I want to show some of the signs here, ban guns, not books. Teachers don't want guns. There has been a big conversation all over this state, especially here after what happened. You got to think a week ago, you had six lives lost, you had officers go in and really neutralize the situation, hero officers. On the news here, people are talking about trying to put bulletproof glass up at the school. So, this is a conversation where today there are a lot of teachers who have an administrative day. So, they are coming out here to show their support, not just for what's going on in terms of inside with lawmakers, they want to make sure that something gets changed here in the state to make them all safe, a lot of passion out here.

SIDNER: All right. Ryan, I know that you're outside of the state House. We are looking inside the state chamber. And what you are seeing are some of the protesters who were outside there with you inside. They've made their way in. You can see there are troopers that are standing, state police sort of standing in between them and the ability to get all the way inside where the lawmakers are. You see the desks where it says reserved for sergeant-at-arms, that is empty. He is quite busy at this time.

Can I get a sense from you, as we're looking at these live pictures inside the state House, can you give me a sense of how people feel about this expulsion? I know that you talked to that teacher who was very, very heartfelt in her saying, look, this is about the kids. Why has this turned into this political battle? But there is this expulsion and it is extremely unusual, never happened before in more than 200 years.

YOUNG: I think that's an excellent point, and that's what some people have been talking about. They've been frustrated with the idea that this has gone to this battle, because we're not focused on the issue here in terms of trying to make kids safe.

In fact, I'm going to turn around and ask -- I know you ladies are still here. Sara was just asking. Are you guys frustrated with the idea that now we're talking about three lawmakers being maybe thrown out of the house instead of worrying about the kids at all?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

YOUNG: Yes. What bothers you the most about that, if you don't mind sharing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's being done purposely because they think if everybody is going to worry about that, then they'll just stop about guns, we will be sad, we will protest for a couple days and move on. But we're tired of it and we're sick of it. And we're sick of children dying and nothing you do is going to distract me. I will be loud and I will be here always.

YOUNG: Have you been encouraged by all the kids who've actually shown up here as well?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so proud of them. They really are the future because they're going to change the world. They're not stuck in their ways yet.

YOUNG: Thank you. So, there you have it, Sara. Look, some people are calling it a distraction. So, you have the idea that they wish lawmakers would come out and talk to them, maybe about coming up with some sort of reform, not just talking about prayers. People don't want to move on from this topic. They really want to have this discussion. How many school kids is enough before something changes? And then you have folks on the other side, this is not the way to do it. And, of course, that's going to be the battle back and forth, but at least they're here to have their voices heard.

SIDNER: Ryan, excellent reporting from you. And just again, we're looking at pictures now from inside of the chamber where this vote is going to happen, but you can hear people chanting over and over and over again inside that chamber as well. John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Sara. We want to go across the Atlantic now to breaking news from the streets of Paris. I believe, yes, there it is, live pictures again of the standoff between law enforcement there and protesters. The streets are packed with thousands and thousands of people who protest over pension reform, raising the retirement age basically from 62 to 64. But these have been violent over the last several minutes and we've been watching this situation developed.

Let's get right to Melissa Bell, who is on the streets of Paris, not too far away from where this is happening. Melissa, bring us up to speed.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, just a step ahead, as I was telling you a moment ago, towards the front of market, you tend to see that violence beginning this afternoon. We've seen in the last couple of weeks every time. As you can see just over here, the more peaceful protesters and this march goes way back. We don't know the figures of the number of people who have turned up but it determined many today in the streets Paris and other French cities as well.

But it is further down there that you're already seeing some remarkably violence. That is because, John, what we've seen in the last couple of weeks are the more far-left and extremist elements really taking center stage to these protests. And that is happening up there again in front of that cafe, projectiles being thrown week after week. What we've seen is tear gas from the part of police, also accusations these last couple of weeks of some pretty heavy-handed tactics, the exaggerated use of batons, the targeting of the press, John, as well.

There are some 45 investigations underway here looking into police violence. And there is that ever more present, ever more vocal, ever more violent call, the Black Bloc.

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They call them -- you see that direct confrontation with the police and that has happened again this Thursday afternoon, John.

BERMAN: Melissa, I don't know if our viewers can see this race. If you can back up a little bit, we can see, Melissa, here on the streets a few blocks, and then you can see we have actually have a different camera angle right now at the lead point of these protests. And this is where the situation is tense, where you can see things being thrown at this law enforcement there, that chants back and forth. We saw smoke bombs being rolled right at the law enforcement a short time ago. Others we saw their shields. Again, you can see how their shields there are clean. Before, we saw them spattered with paint and other things. And we also know that a nearby cafe a nearby cafe was lit on fire briefly, although that fire was extinguished very quickly. But, clearly, the situation there very tense.

Hang on, Melissa. We're watching the law enforcement now move in. They have sped up the pace of their march. Sometimes this is what happens, law enforcement moving very quickly to push demonstrators out of an area. Let's watch.

All right, what you can see is law enforcement there making a line, trying to prevent sort of two groups from getting right into each other and intermingling. But people are walking fairly safely here even as they're confronting that police in another location.

And there you can see the smoke, smoke bombs, unclear exactly who set them off, whether it was the protesters or police. But, clearly now, police trying to move some people out of the area.

Melissa, I'm sorry, I just saw you there. Give us a little more of a sense of how long police -- I don't know if the right word is -- will allow this to happen. Do these protests play themselves out or do police say, okay, enough?

BELL: Well, what we've seen, as we've seen those protests get more violent, as you're seeing right now, just beyond there, we can see the smoke from here. You can feel the tingle of the tear gas that has now begun.

There is this obligation that they have to allow these protests go on. Bear in mind that it is unified unions who got the most people out on the streets. That violent minority that you're watching square off with the police, these are far-left activists whose point is to engage with the police week after week.

But for the authorities, it's a delicate tightrope. They have to allow these demonstrations to go on there. There is all that popular anger against pension reform. The unions out here protesting, ordinary people as well, the cost of living, inflation. The government determined to push ahead with its reform, and yet, week after week, there is much more violent elements whose aim is to take on the police and to take on capitalism itself.

Actually, John, we saw those remarkable images earlier today of some of the rail workers occupying the Northern Rock Bank for about ten minutes. There is a very political edge.

BERMAN: And, Melissa --

BELL: And you can see just further down the street towards the (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you, Melissa, but you were saying that these protests have become more violent. And, clearly, we can see them violent right now, with smoke billowing in flames here and there.

You were telling me that there have been police injured. Give us a sense of how many injuries in the results that this violence, what they caused.

BELL: Let me show you again the -- let me show you the pictures of the crowd. Again, this is the much more peaceful majority that have been demonstrating, marching week after week. They say that they will continue to come out here. This is about pension reform.

But, again, further down and mixed within them these elements, they call themselves the Black Bloc. They cover themselves up and they're aimed at direct confrontation. More than 700 police officers injured so far these last few weeks. And the majority of those injured, John, in the last two weeks, there's been a definite ratcheting up the tension that you're seeing on those images there, definitely ratcheting with the desire, those most extremist elements, to make themselves heard and to take on the police.

But now, the government being absolutely clear, John, they're going to see this through for as long as it takes. Their code is that this will, at some point, run out of steam in the end. And in the meantime, it is a lot of damage that you're seeing. Most of these streets of Paris are turned into battlefields, really, between the riot police trying to keep order and between those determined just trying to take them on, John.

BERMAN: What you are seeing now is this group of law enforcement police. They appear to be converging on this one area. You see two types of things and demonstrations like this for people who have been in them. You see police occasionally marching along with groups of protesters, trying to stay with them to make sure that even as it's violent, it doesn't escalate to a point that is, what I would call, unacceptable.

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The other thing you occasionally see his police make lines to prevent the groups of people from going down one avenue (ph) or another, to try to keep control of where the demonstration is. It's hard to tell how much in control this is, although I will say these police, while they're standing very much at attention, appear to be standing with a certain sense of calm. They appear to be doing this quite deliberately. Again, you can see them making this line quite deliberately across this street to try to keep this group of protesters from going anywhere else.

This is -- you know, you are seeing law enforcement here at work. This takes a certain amount of training to do what they're doing and a certain amount calm. You can see there demonstrators. I don't know if they were trying to provoke one forced, but certainly going right up next to them. And, again, now, these two groups of the law enforcement on the streets there.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, Melissa, are these demonstrations overwhelming his agenda? Is this the only thing he's thinking about? And I ask you that because I know he's got other business today.

BELL: That's right. This is, remember, John, a president who came in vowing to reform France. He has a whole bunch of other reforms planned. Given the trouble he's had with this one, which will undoubtedly become law, but has created all of this upheaval that you've seen.

Remember that it isn't just these protests and this very violent image that you're seeing, it is the strikes across the country for the 11th day since the protests began in January. And it is without crippling effect, trying to lock down the airports, train stations, the schools, the hospitals, but also the refineries, with lines now beginning to form at French gas stations, that the protesters and this wider movement really hope that they're going to force the government to listen.

And yet, what we've been hearing both from President Macron, John, and from the interior minister, is that they will carry on with this and on country. That they try to get the police to take these much more violent confrontations more head on, and that's why the last couple of weeks have been difficult, as they can. A lot of confrontation, as you're seeing right now, just up ahead in this march between the Black Bloc movements at the helm of these marches and the riot police determined to keep a handle on it.

And the accusations both go in both ways. We've seen week-after-week also, John, growing number of wounded, not just amongst the police ranks but amongst the protesters. People have lost eyes, fingers. They have been extraordinarily violent, hundreds of protesters winding up in hospitals again. This is once again a protest that appears to be turning from the very joyful start that they had to much more violence, much more intensity, much more direct confrontation. And I can smell it in the air a lot more tear gas, John.

BERMAN: No, it clearly is ratcheting up some. And for Americans looking at this, look, it's springtime in Paris. This is the time of year when I think a lot of tourists, a lot Americans like to go to that city. They want to take strolls down the boulevards. And you can see how difficult and challenging that would be, the atmosphere in the city, the incredibly tense the atmosphere in the city right now.

And, again, I can't stress enough the training that goes into this for law enforcement to be standing where they are trying to maintain this sense of calm. Protesters have been out there for many days now, for 11 straight days, protesting the policies of the government. They feel very strongly about raising the retirement age from 62 to 64.

I want to thank our Melissa Bell, who has been on the streets describing the situation to us as thousands of people pass her. We're going to keep an eye on this standoff on the streets of Paris between police and protesters.

We have much more news developing at this hour. Stay with us. CNN New Central continues right after a quick break.

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SIDNER: We are following breaking news out of Nashville. You are looking at live pictures at the statehouse where protesters have made their way in and made their voices heard to the lawmakers who are right now looking at whether to expel three Democratic state lawmakers. The Republicans and this chamber are looking to expel them after they protested on the statehouse floor last week calling for gun reform.

Let's just take a look at what's happening now. Speeches are going on now. You are seeing inside the chamber live chambers, and they are making speeches as they build up to this vote on whether or not to expel three lawmakers. The lawmakers are all Democrats, Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson.

The three of them came into the chamber and were protesting. And what were they protesting about? They were protesting about what happened at a Tennessee elementary school where nine people were killed three students -- six people were killed including three nine-year-olds. They came into the chamber and that is a violation of rules. And now, the Republicans that are in charge in the chamber have said that they were going to be expelled for breaking the rules.

This, by the way, has only happened twice before in the history of Tennessee since the civil war. One was in the '80s, the other in 2016. But both of those were because of criminal activity or alleged criminal activity of one of the members.

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