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Don Lemon Tonight
Chaos And Crisis In America; Protests Erupt Across U.S. Following Death Of George Floyd. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired May 30, 2020 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:15]
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Good evening everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Thank you so much for joining us.
I think it's important for you to know that this evening, tonight, chaos in America, 40 million people out of work, more than 102,000 Americans lives lost to a pandemic. And for the fifth night, images of American cities, smoldering, people out in protests, rioting, an emergency is gripping the country right now. I can show you better than I can describe it.
We are going to take you all across the country right now. But this is Denver right now. But it looks much the same in Chicago. It's looks pretty much in Miami, Des Moines, Iowa, Denver, Salt Lake City, Time Square in New York City and in those places, Atlanta as well. This is all happening live and we're going to take you through.
Many of these images are coming in. And I'm watching them come in just as you are. My producers are guiding me through it. Some of it I may not know what's happening so bear with us as this all unfolds live for you. This is new and we don't know what's going to happen tonight.
These crowds are furious protesters or mass together. They are faced off against police officers. They are throwing objects. Some of them, they are setting things on fire. They are refusing to disperse. And they are daring the police to do something about it.
Again, we're going to take you through all of this live as many of these places as we can get to, Atlanta, Minneapolis, even the White House has a crowd growing of protesters outside again tonight.
So, we're going to talk now about why these people are raging tonight. Again, in America's cities. What they are sick and tired of? They're sick and tired of seeing on the news. And who they blame for this glaring misappropriation of justice. That far too often. That means unarmed people die at the hands of police officers.
These are live pictures now that you are looking for - that you're looking at in Atlanta right now. Not far from the CNN Center, Centennial Olympic Park, where residents are under a 9:00 p.m. curfew.
The city's mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, imploring her city's residents earlier this evening, not to repeat last night's events.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D), ATLANTA, GA: Atlanta is always going to look and feel like Atlanta to me even on its worst day because on our worst day in the city, I know there is a better day that's coming. And that's what it felt like to me. And when I saw the people out today cleaning up our city and crews were out there. That felt like Atlanta to me.
We are the city that cities across this country only wish that they could be, which is last night I said, we are better -- we are better than this as a city. And we are still better than this as a country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Truly a very trying time for the city of Atlanta and many cities across this country.
CNN's Correspondent, Martin Savidge is in Downtown Atlanta. Again, close to the CNN Center. Martin, what are you seeing right now?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, it is 9:00. It is after 9:00, which means that the curfew that was ordered by the mayor has gone into effect. The authorities wasted no time. They immediately began clearing the street. There was a conflict - while there was firing back and forth, the protesters were using fireworks and police were using tear gas.
They've driven the protesters around the outskirts of Centennial Park. And right now, they sort of come to a standstill. There were a number of arrests and people that were detained. But right now, they have driven away the main body of protesters from the immediate area outside of CNN.
You're going to hear the helicopters that are hovering almost at rooftop level here. And you can see that the security forces now are pausing and taking them on into reassess. They also have drones in the air because what they are monitoring is where does the crowd go from here?
They realize like last time when people were pushed from one area, they went to another. And the fireworks being thrown directly into the police officers is disorienting as well for everyone. There is a huge blast of light and sound. But the officers for the most part have held their ranks and their lines and continue now to block the streets.
[21:05:07]
There are still protesters. We can see about 100 yards away. But for the moment, the authorities are holding right here. Don?
LEMON: Martin, there was a scene of chaos last night in Atlanta. It appears that this is controlled chaos at this very moment on the streets. I would imagine that the police department there met today and said we don't want to have this. They put a curfew in place. You have covered - you know, protests, many protests. What is your feel about what is going to happen tonight? SAVIDGE: And clearly, there was a feeling that tonight was going be a follow on. And in fact, perhaps, even worries that this could be worse than last night. From the law enforcement's perspective, yesterday it escalated very slowly. You started with a softer police unit. Say like the bicycle patrols. Then it shifted to the regular police units. And then, finally, later you saw the riot police come in.
Now, they started with the riot police and the S.W.A.T. teams, give us clear by the arrest that they were making early that authorities were in no mood to be lenient on protesters tonight. They allowed them to have their say.
They allowed them to have the streets but once 9:00 came and went, they immediately (INAUDIBLE) that this was the longer lawful and they began moving in. Firing tear gas, presenting their shields and clearing the street as the protesters melted away. They have not gone away completely. This is by no means over. It's clearly going to be a back and forth through the night. Don?
LEMON: All right. Let's hope it holds steady there in Atlanta. Martin, I want you to standby because now I want to get to the streets of New York City where we have seen protesters marched in defiance and police make multiple arrests. I want to get to CNN's Shimon Prokupecz in Times Square for us. Shimon, what are you seeing where you are this hour?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: So, right now, protesters are gathered as they've been all day. Union Square here in Manhattan. This has been a point where they - many of them have gathered and it has been mostly peaceful here.
A short time ago there was group of protesters who have been on bikes and mopeds around the city. They were setting trash on fire, throwing trash into the street. But the group that's gathered here, very upset obviously. You know we are hearing chants of "I can't breathe" and "don't shoot" and names mentioned and George Floyd's name mentioned and other people who have died during interactions with police.
So, look, people here continuing to express their anger. They are angry. They are arguing with the police officers. Police officers are trying to get them you know out of the street. And this is what's going on here. A lot of these protesters are in the street.
And the police have lined up here as you can see behind me to keep them out of the street. They were just pushing them back and pushing them back and a lot of the people understand that they got angry and they were yelling at the police. But the police were successful in getting them on the sidewalks without making any arrests and without any kind of confrontation.
And this is what we see now. There's a lot of people standing around talking - talking to the police, yelling at the police, expressing their anger of course at what's been going on. And the police for now are standing here.
There have been several arrests, about 70 arrests we are told so far. Probably those numbers are a little higher now across the city. As we see pockets of flare ups in different areas of Manhattan. As I said earlier, groups are doing their own thing. There are larger protests and then there are smaller groups that's winter (ph) off and then do their own thing. And that's what we've been seeing all day here, Don.
For now, the police here, allowing folks to express their anger and have conversations with them. You can hear chants here and the police are just standing around keeping people. The key right now it seems is they want to keep people out of the street and on the sidewalk and that's what we are seeing here. Don?
LEMON: All right. Shimon, I want you to standby because, again, we have crews all over the country in major cities all over this country. I want to get to CNN's correspondent Omar Jimenez. He is also on the ground for us.
Omar, I want you - obviously, you have been on the scene in Minneapolis, part of something that happened that was very disturbing yesterday, being detained and taken into custody by Minneapolis police. But I want you to give us a sense of what's going on in the ground in Minneapolis right now, please.
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, the curfew that was supposed to be instituted by Governor Tim Walz started nine minutes ago. But as you can see here, people are still out. They have defied that order but - which is bad news for the governor on that front.
[21:10:02]
Good news is that in this location over the course of the day, this is what they have wanted protests to look like. It has been largely peaceful and people have gathered in this spot. Again, the entire day here, hundreds if not at least a thousand people here.
And if you look over to the left, this is all happening right across the street or right in front of us, I should say, the 5th Police Precinct here in Minneapolis. And one of the things they have been trying to prevent, at least from state officials' side and from the law enforcement side in general, is what the governor described as 48 hours of anarchy yesterday. That obviously continued into a third day.
Now, here we are this evening. They've added a few things they hope will make a difference. They say they have tripled the amount of law enforcement resources here to address what they are calling, quote, "a sophisticated network of urban warfare." Then they are deploying their largest domestic deployment of Minnesota National Guard in its history.
Walz is saying don't go outside today and he has also signed an executive order to pull nearby states, counties and city resources to try and address the mayhem they have seen that points over the course of the past few nights. And his words, "it has to stop." They have not been able to stop it just yet.
Now is a new attempt to try to do so. And they have added resources to try to bring to the plate. But again, the first -- the first thing, the first barrier they tried to put in place which is the curfew. People have completely denied that, still out here.
And we'll see what comes next later into the evening because that's how things have gone. During the day, it's largely been peaceful. During the night, things seem to have evolve into violence, rioting and at times looting. Looting that he says has come largely from people out of state. Don?
LEMON: All right. Omar Jimenez, we'll check back in with you as well as the rest of our correspondents who are out on the streets. Thank you so much for that.
I want to go now to Democratic Senator Kamala Harris, California Senator Kamala Harris. She joins us now via phone. Senator, I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA) (via telephone): Of course. These times are times that are really challenging us to define who we say we are as a country and proves it. In particular to prove whether we really are committed to the ideals of who we say we are.
LEMON: Let me ask you because you see a lot of anger out there tonight. And I know you are watching the pictures coming in from Los Angeles. What is your message to the crowds of protesters on the streets of Los Angeles?
HARRIS: Look, this is what happens when the whole communities of people have not received justice. And the pain is real and it's legitimate. You know in the streets of Los Angeles 30 years ago looked the same way in terms of the protests around Rodney King and not much has happened since then to really change the circumstances. And it is still a fact in America that we have two systems of justice.
You know when you look at a Michael Flynn or a Roger Stone who one pleaded guilty and the other was convicted but yet they are basically led off? But yet you have a George Floyd or Ahmaud Arbery or Breanna Taylor not receiving - and their families not receiving justice. So, the outrage, the pain, that's real and it's legitimate. And we need to acknowledge that.
And the other thing, Don, I have to say this. You know, the last big event I attended before the pandemic struck was to be with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Some of the other members of Congress to walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the 55 years since Bloody Sunday when people shed their blood and people die for the rights for black folks to vote in America.
And there are so much about those days and my parents marched in the civil rights movement. I was a child in a stroller during those marches. But we talked about it and we romanticized it, right? We romanticize in so many ways about who Dr. King was and his non-violent protests.
But the reality is that he was fighting for the same things. That protesters today are fighting for, which is equal justice under the law. And there has to be acknowledged. The pain, the injustice has to be acknowledged. And so, that's how I think about this. And of course, I will never condone vandalism and violence in these protests. But you got to recognize and appreciate the fact that people have a right to feel pain and to feel anger about the fact that these many --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Here is the question --
HARRIS: -- this is still happening.
LEMON: Here is the question though. That everyone wants the answer to. And we don't know what it is, perhaps you as a legislature can tell -- can tell us.
[21:15:00]
What happens now? What is the solution? How do we fix this?
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: There are number -
LEMON: Because this is as we know the third rail races - the third rail to American society. How do we fix this?
HARRIS: We have - first of all, we have to have all people regardless of race and gender. You know I was out there at the protest today in D.C., in front of the White House. And there were people of every gender, every race, unified and understanding the significance of this and the importance of fighting for the ideals of our country. (INAUDIBLE) -- making real equal justice under the law. So how do we do that on the issue of excessive force?
First of all, I've said this before, bad cops need go to jail. Bad cops are bad for good cops. And so, what do we need to do to bring more integrity to the criminal justice system? We need to have an independent investigation. I strongly believe that it should not be DA's offices that work with those police departments that are doing investigations of police conduct.
We need to have the United States Department of Justice. Reinvoke what under the Obama administration what's happening around investigations of patterns and practice of discrimination, which have basically been canceled under Donald Trump's administration. We need to have a system where we are enforcing casuistically where there has been a finding of misconduct by a police department. And court oversees what should be the reforms. These are the specific things that need to happen.
But I have to tell you, Don. Today, we all were really excited and many of us watched the SpaceX launch. I don't know if you saw that. And the commentators were talking about the 2 minutes and 38 seconds that the SpaceX - that the SpaceX launch needed to detach to actually pursue its mission. 2 minutes and 38 seconds. There was a clock that NASA had on the projection of that launch, 2 minutes and 38 seconds.
George Floyd, 2 minutes and 53 seconds had a knee on his neck when he showed no signs of life. This is why people are marching and protesting. Because why should there be two systems of justice or two definitions of the significance of the passage of time in America?
LEMON: That was very well said and the question is why is that? It is interesting to me because there are - it has been said that we lived in two separate realities in America: one black and one white. And for one segment of America, this is a reality that people know happens all the time and for another, there appears to be an awakening. Why is that Senator?
HARRIS: Look - I mean that the fact is that this is America securely feel. I mean, you and I talked about this. I serve on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Russia interfered in the election of the president of United States in 2016, that's a fact. You know what they did in terms of deciding what was the weakness in America that they could actually took advantage of.
It was America securely feel which is race. And so, they targeted black voters. They targeted misinformation campaign, taking advantage of the legitimate distrust that folks have in their government and its systems, right? This is real. And we have to be honest about it. We have to be honest about it.
LEMON: I hate to -- I hate to cut you off. I am enjoying having this conversation with you. I urge all Americans to have this conversation and we need to continue it. Of course, we'll have you back. Senator Kamala Harris, senator of California. Please be safe, Senator. Thank you so much. I have to get to the breaking news.
HARRIS: Of course.
LEMON: I want to get to Chicago now. Absolutely. I want to get to Ryan Young who is following the unrest on the grounds of Chicago. Ryan, take it away. What are we seeing on our screens right now?
RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You see him get pepper sprayed right there live on camera. What's basically happening right now is they are pepper spraying several protesters. Protesters have shown up here to Chicago with fireworks. They are even firing fireworks at police officers who have been trying to hold that line.
We were right in the middle of it when we saw the fireworks actually exploded right in front of us. At the same time, there were several men that the police department had identified who had those fireworks. So, they moved in to take those fireworks.
They deployed the pepper spray. People started running and screaming but the officers had already identified the men with the bags and that's what they went after. We are talking about for the last 20 minutes or so each block where the officers have been, they have been following them and shooting and throwing fireworks and making loud explosions.
[21:20:05]
On top of all that, about two blocks over, we have seen several police cars that were set on fire. This is what pepper spray does to you though. The irritant gets into your lungs and people have a lot of trouble time to breathe. So that is going on right now.
They are trying to get it out of that girl's eyes. And I could tell you, that I have been to this before. It's one of the most painful things you go through when you've never done that before. So, they are trying to get it out of her eyes.
We've also heard several people talking about they have asthma. So, when that irritant gets into their chest, that's the other part of this. So, you have people who are protesting. They came here with shots. But there are other people - again, I've been saying this over and over again, who don't care about the protest at all. They are here for something different.
And again, this is for a change and you can hear -- you can hear the cars being revved up in here. We've seen people with ATVs. We saw people going down in the middle of the street with Nike shoes because apparently, they went after the Nike store as well. We did see a softer police presence earlier. But that presence just a little - come with me this way. I want to make sure - I want to make sure my guy doesn't get in the middle of the street because we're not sure when one of these cars might become blowing through here.
I want to try to walk us back to where the officers are standing, Don, because this is the largest group of officers we have seen and again, it seems like the protesters have been going after them. It has been some of this right now. This is the corner - I could smell some of the pepper spray. This is the corner where they have lined up. Two blocks down, there are more officers who are setup just in case. They are screaming in the place. Now, you can see this.
Now, I can hear some these protesters trying to threaten some of the officers as we speak. So, it's been interesting. So now, here it goes. So, look, this is sort of what's happening.
On top of that, as you can hear, someone's revving up an engine. We even see people showed up on ATVs. They are riding through the middle of the streets. So, as it gets darker, the element has changed again.
These young men are actually calling the black officers who are on the line here, Uncle Tom. Obviously, you understand what that's all about. So, again, Don, again a difficult situation as this is sort of unfolding here in Chicago. No one is leading these groups. They are all walking on and that's what's going at this point right now. I think the fireworks though with the point that it really got scary toward the middle of the street at this hour.
LEMON: Yes. Hey, Ryan, maybe it is just my little earpiece because I have this little earpiece - earpiece in my ear but when you're wearing that mask, I probably need you to get the mic closer.
I want to ask you a couple of questions. I am so glad, Ryan, that you are bringing up the fact that many of these people out there are just rabble-rousers. And they are not actually part of the legitimate protesters who are - who are in this groups. They came there to cause trouble. And some of them are doing it on purpose because what we have all been
out on these scenes. There are people or factions who are out there doing it, and in some instances to make the protesters look bad. Let's just be honest. And they're there just because they want to cause trouble.
YOUNG: I actually think that's a great point, Don. Look at this guy right here before we get to this question. Look at what's happening in the middle of the street. This is the sort of thing that we've seen over and over where people sort of trying to defy the law right in front of the law.
One of the things that stood out to me so far is we saw protesters stepping in and trying to police other protesters. When we saw women getting hit with rocks. They didn't like that. And they say, hey, that's not right. So that was a part of that situation here.
There are clearly people here who do not care about policing or black people's issues. They do not care all. They are here to spray paint buildings. They are here to deface. They are here to loot from buildings. They do not care about the issues in black America or racism or anything like that. There is another group here that's passionate about the idea of all the issues that's happening.
Look, the Chicago police department doesn't escape this all the way. There obviously been issues within the police department especially when it comes to the south and the west side of Chicago. Don, you've lived here before. We know there's two sides in this city. There's a side that we are here that's nice and beautiful and the other side of town, there are people struggling. And they are tired of dealing with issues when it comes to police officers in this city.
[21:25:00]
LEMON: Ryan, you can go to just about every major city --
YOUNG: Let's walk this way. Walk this way. So, someone threw a bottle --
LEMON: What happened, Ryan?
YOUNG: I spotted it. They were not aiming at us. Someone threw a wine bottle. They weren't aiming at us. They were aiming at the officers. We just not to have my photographer's back. So, at the same time, we just have to move out of the way a little bit. Go ahead and say what you have to say, Don.
LEMON: No, I was just going to say -- just about every major city and even smaller city there is a George Floyd story where people are upset in all of those cities. And so, this is about George Floyd but it goes beyond that.
So, tonight in America you are watching the scenes from Chicago. You are watching the scenes from Atlanta. Standby please, Ryan. You are watching the scenes from Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Miami, all over this country, 40 million people out of work. 102,000 Americans who have died from the coronavirus and the fifth night, images of American cities, some of them burning a country in chaos. We'll continue to report, a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:30:25]
LEMON: Tonight, as we take a look at these pictures coming in from Los Angeles, you can see that it's clearly a country in chaos where have 40 million people who are out of work. We have 102,000 Americans who have lost their lives to a pandemic. And then you have people who have taken to the streets of major cities. Some of those cities are smoldering.
This is Los Angeles. A major city in California. And now it is gripped with chaos. An emergency is gripping this country right now. At this hour, protesters are facing off with police.
Can we go back to that picture? I want to hear - I want our viewer to hear from the ground how police are reacting and what protesters are saying. Let's go back to the ground.
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You guys (INAUDIBLE) bullets and bottles are being thrown here on 3rd Gilmore.
LEMON: I think this is our correspondent Paul Vercammen who is -- Paul, I don't know if you know that you're online. Paul, can you hear me? It's Don Lemon.
VERCAMMEN: I can hear you, Don. Right now, the major action, the police are moving down. This is 3rd Street and they're telling all these demonstrators that they are to clear this area. So, what that you are hearing was the popping of rubber bullets. Now, we should say we've seen them mainly fire these rubber bullets at protesters feet. But we've seen arrests go down right here.
And this is what started as a very peaceful rally at Pan Pacific Park near here. And then later in the day, we saw the burning of police vehicles, vandalization. We saw police squaring off with protesters and right now the effort, Don, is to try to clear this area. And just moments ago, you saw it was rather heated as they were firing rubber bullets at the feet of demonstrators.
LEMON: So, Paul, what happened that Los Angeles all of a sudden this blew up in Los Angeles? Because we have been seeing it in other cities and then all of a sudden here we go with Los Angeles today. What happened?
VERCAMMEN: Don, it is extremely difficult to pinpoint what happened today or last night when we also had arrests. But you can tell right now, you're also seeing bottles flying this way. I was at that protest earlier and it was so calm and so tranquil. They were in the park. People were saying they were just heart sick over what happened to George Floyd. Sick to their stomachs, disgusted by seeing the images. But it was peaceful. And they said they wanted to see something happen to the other officers. And at some point when they occupied the major inner section here in Los Angeles, at Fairfax in 3rd, the demonstrators and the officers were nose to nose or nose to face shield if you want to look at it that way. And then there were just these little eruptions of shoving of batons swinging and what not.
And the officers are trying to clear this (INAUDIBLE). The demonstrators are trying to continue their demonstration. And so, it is almost like it's a stalemate. And we saw at least, I would say, four police vehicles set on fire. Another 10 damaged. And as we head into the night, the mayor has invoke a curfew starting at 8:00 p.m. local time, Don, and 11:00 p.m. Pacific Time.
LEMON: Where exactly are you Paul?
VERCAMMEN: So, I am in what's called the Miracle Mile District. And in fact, we're going to go ahead and show you an interesting shot. Go ahead and go all the way around and down, Chris. That's the famous Farmer's Market right there. And the police at one point were actually concerned what those people who are standing on top of the Farmer's Market building. But this blew up over here. So, they became concerned with that. Now, here we go again, bottles flying and rubber bullets.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Standby, Paul. I just want to update our viewers who are watching this unfold. CNN is on top and we're going to continue to cover this for you.
[21:35:01]
So, I paused because I wanted to hear what the police officers were saying. CNN is covering the breaking news happening in this country. You're looking at two scenes. The same scene from Los Angeles. One ground shot in one area there. We want to thank our affiliate KCAL and KCBS.
So, Paul - Paul Vercammen is our correspondent who's on the scene. Paul, is that a police officer directing these protesters? Or is this a protester - someone's on a bullhorn. What's going on?
VERCAMMEN: We'll go ahead and just - just a little bit to the right. Go ahead and show the officer on the bullhorn. This officer has been trying to talk to the protesters and tell them that they need to clear this area. And there has been moments where protest leaders have been on bullhorn. We're not hearing them now.
So, what you heard was the officer exhorting, asking the protesters to leave the area. You'll see this line of officers walk down the street, then say hold and they're regaining ground, if you will, as they attempt to clear this area after this protest that started in a park not far from here at noon local time, Don.
LEMON: And Paul, how long has this been going on, did this start earlier peacefully and then escalate? VERCAMMEN: You're exactly right. They started extremely peacefully. We saw absolutely no violence of any kind when it began in Pan Pacific Park here near the Fairfax District in Los Angeles.
I'd say it wasn't until three hours later that we really saw the tension rise in that intersection of Fairfax and 3rd. And then the next thing you know, we saw this confrontation get more and more heated. We saw protesters jumped on a bus. We saw police retreat and then we saw police cars stomped on by protesters and now we are seeing reinforcements coming in everywhere we look. These officers obviously are jumping into the fray.
Chris, just show me your right shoulder. Show these sheriff deputies. So, L.A. county sheriff now also involved. Those deputies with their helmets on, ready to flip their visors down. And now back - they're moving up the street trying to move these people out of here.
Again, the LAPD has been told by the mayor to invoke a curfew starting at 11:00 Eastern and 8:00 local.
LEMON: Paul Vercammen on the scene for us in Los Angeles as these protests are getting out of control. There is a curfew set but we will see if that will hold. There's also one curfew set in Minneapolis. There's one set in Atlanta. We'll see if any of those will hold.
Many of our cities, our major cities in this country in chaos. There's unrest in our cities. And so far, no appeal from the president of the United States for calm. We are waiting for some leadership instead of division. And so far, silence. A quick break. We're back on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:43:12]
LEMON: So, we watched Minneapolis burned for a couple of nights here. And now there appears to be more chaos. You see our Omar Jimenez on the ground there. Omar, take it away. What is happening?
JIMENEZ: So, right now, we have seen peaceful protesting here throughout the day, but you see this line of police that had mad - they made a huge advance down this road here outside the police precinct here. The Fifth Police Precinct here in Minneapolis.
That whole intersection right there was filled with hundreds of people until literally, one minute ago, as these vehicles and line of police officers advanced throwing tear gas. As you see them in there, tear gas filling that entire intersection, and everybody has scattered running towards it. If you look to the right here, you see how many people actually were inside as they are raising their hands there.
But look, curfew started less than an hour ago at this point. And this was the night that the governor officials and law enforcement say that they were going to stop the rioting and looting and the violence that we have seen play out over nights before. So, you see protesters here launching back whatever law enforcement has thrown in back in here. But there is so much gas that has been launched again in just the past two minutes or so. You can barely even see that line of officers right there, looks to be state patrol officers right now. But I can't emphasize enough that that intersection was literally filled with hundreds of people until literally a minute and a half ago.
And now we are at a standoff. We have a line of police right in front of the Fifth Police District here in Minneapolis. And you have the protesters that again literally were in that intersection just a few minutes ago, Don. This is a scene that we almost expected to see in some ways because we have not seen any sort of law enforcement present, again, until it came just within a matter of moments, Don.
[21:45:08]
LEMON: OK. So, Omar, listen, we have to stay on these pictures. So, Omar, what is that? We see police and tactical gear on the other side of this fence over here. And then protesters on your side of the fence.
JIMENEZ: That's right.
LEMON: This is a standoff. Talk to me about what's going on. I mean this is chaotic. Perhaps the most chaotic that we have seen since the night before last.
JIMENEZ: So, here we go. We got a little bit of a fire breaking out to the left here as people are being forced back by the police. And you see these police officers and patrol officers are advancing slowly through the intersection as gas is proceeding their steps as they are walking, vehicles inside as well.
At this point, we are trying to stay out of their way. We're going to be over on the side here. Again, you see what's in front of them right now. All of these protesters that are slowly being pushed back further and further methodically. You have canisters exploding in the ground here. Thrown by police officers. You see as they're rolling them into the ground, as gas is coming up as well.
They're methodically trying to move this group of protesters out of the street and trying to enforce this curfew forcefully as we are seeing right now. And protesters are continuing to backup. This is a scene that's developed so quickly. And in the course of the day, we have seen here largely what officials wanted to see. That is peaceful protesting, trying to stick to the message.
And you know, we're going to backup just a little bit here. Our producer got hit. All right. All right. Our producer got hit by some sort of projectile right there. We're going to back up here. You, OK? Come on, we got to move here. Let's back up. Come on. Come on. We're going to get back. We're going to move back. We're going to get to a safe spot here, Don, as they continue to methodically work there. We got to move back fellas. Come on. Come on. Let's move. So, we got some tear gas in the air here as we are - we are in a jog right now. We are getting away from the patrol officers there. They're making their way up the street. But I can't emphasize enough. This is probably the strictest enforcement we have seen of any sort of law enforcement directive throughout this entire week of protests.
There have been times where they have allowed the peaceful protests to continue and then in the evenings it gets out of control and buildings are set on fire. That does not seem like it is going to be the case here tonight. This is a neighborhood that's been ravaged over the course of last night and even the night before as the police precinct here. They try to scale and do the same thing they did to the 3rd Precinct, but they were not quite successful. They did burn out that Wells Fargo as you see them walking pass it right now. But again, you see how methodically --
LEMON: Omar.
JIMENEZ: -- these officers are moving through the streets here.
LEMON: Let me jump in here because you are - this is - you're in a Strip Mall, right? This is the shopping center and -- is there anywhere to go (CROSSTALK) is there anywhere to go here or there?
JIMENEZ: At this point -
LEMON: You guys are not blocked in, are you?
JIMENEZ: We are not. We are off to the right side right here. We got a way to jump out of the right. So we are trying to stay as close as possible to give you a view but also far enough away so that we don't get a little dust of tear gas like we just did a few moments ago.
But as you look literally to the right here, there are people ducking behind bicycles as stuff is tossed back over. This is a scene that people have been retreated back there. They're shooting over at us so we're going to take back. They're probably shooting at people that were on bicycles. So, we are dipping back to basically where a safe spot is, where we can dip out behind us to right if need be.
But again, we have been here over the course of the nights. We have seen the clashes between law enforcement and protesters over the course of nights. This has to be the most methodical and forceful response we have seen from law enforcement in regard to protesters that we have seen over the course of this entire week.
Look how far back all of these protesters were pushed. And literally, a matter of five minutes by this unit of law enforcement that came in, advanced together and forced them back into a parking lot about a block away, Don.
LEMON: This is the same Strip Mall that they showed a video of earlier with Josh. Residents cleaning up and now it is just shambles again. It just shows you the cycle of this. But you're right Omar because as you guys have been there, you and Sarah and Josh, police had basically retreated, and you didn't see much presence. And now you're seeing a presence.
[21:50:08]
So, it appears that police have gotten their acts together. I don't know if they have back up. Does this all appear to be Minneapolis police? Are there National Guard in this? What's the presence here, Omar?
JIMENEZ: It seems right now, based on their uniforms -- we haven't gotten close enough to fully read it, but based on how they are dressed, I believe they are state police officers, based on the ones that I have seen earlier in the week. And it looks like National Guards men as well based on their uniform. A unit of both of them together. We can imagine supported by Minneapolis police as well.
But in regard to specific things that the governor here, Tim Walz, said we would see. They said they will be tripling their law enforcement size to address a quote, "sophisticated network of urban warfare." That came from the head of their State Public Safety.
But then, they said this would be the largest deployment of National Guard in the state's history. He said they were going to authorize the use of adjoining state resources to include resources from nearby cities and counties and I think we're seeing the manifestation of some of those orders where at least in this part of Minneapolis, where it was right outside the 5th Precinct here for Minneapolis police, they do not seem to be playing games. They seem to be trying to make a statement. Again, we are 50 minutes into the curfew here in Minneapolis. Hundreds have not adhered to the curfew.
As we see that camera person just got shot. They shot at that man. He clearly has press on his helmet right there. We have seen that multiple times over the course of protests nationwide.
But even as they have been pushed back, there are people that are still advancing now towards that line of officers. Oh, another shot right there. Back up, back up behind this corner. We are going around the corner because they do not seem to be --
LEMON: And Omar -
JIMENEZ: -- distinguishing
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: They're not discriminating at who they're shooting. Right, so who - so, they're not discriminating here. So, who is - so, who is shooting and what are they shooting, Omar?
JIMENEZ: It appears they seem to be -- let's look around the corner here. They are moving around and securing this area on the left side. They seem to be shooting -- Bill, how would you -- I'm talking to my producer here. Bill, how would you describe what you got hit with?
BILL KIRKOS, CNN PRODUCER: I don't know if it was a rubber bullet. Something hit me on my back, right shoulder, knocked me down. It may have been a rubber bullet. And I couldn't even see it coming at me. It just hit me so hard and fast.
JIMENEZ: That's right. OK. So, that's my producer, Bill Kirkos. As we were walking away from that area.
A guy standing next to us just got hit by one of those pellets. We are standing behind cover for that very exact reason. But they do seem to be pellets of some sort that give off a green gas once they make contact. And I'm looking off my photographer's camera, who's literally hearing around the corner so that we don't risk getting shot ourselves with some of these pellets.
But again, this is the enforcement they promised and wanted to have over the course of the past few nights. And one of the things Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey talked about was trying to even the ratio between law enforcement and protesters.
In which he says they have been severely outmatched over the course of the past few days. The ratio does still seem to be off in regard to hundreds versus what we're looking at right now. But the power and the methods, they seem to be using without question and without hesitation is the main difference than what we have seen over the course of the past few days, Don.
LEMON: Omar, hold on. Have your photographer hold that shot of the parking lot. And standby.
(CROSSTALK)
America, you're watching -- hold this shot.
America, you're watching this. It is coming up on 9:00 p.m. in Minneapolis. This looks like a war zone. America is in chaos right now. This is Minneapolis, Minnesota, and police are in a face-off with protesters. They are shooting what appears to be pellets or rubber bullets of some sort at protesters and at the media. They're not discriminating. And they're trying to get hold of this major city in America tonight in chaos.
We are covering this for you live. We don't know what is going to happen, and similar scenes are playing out in cities all across this country. But right now, at this vantage point in Minneapolis, our Omar Jimenez is covering this for us. He has been on top of this when it started to get out of control minutes ago, and he is reporting it now. Omar, what are you seeing and hearing?
[21:55:03]
JIMENEZ: Well, right now, this person who's walking seems to be in the exact zone where they had been shooting moments ago. He seems to be grabbing, looks like something he can maybe use as a shield as he walks back towards what is now maybe 100 protesters.
What they had done before, when I mentioned the hundreds were in that intersection, this crowd was swelling. You can see how scattered it actually is now as people decide how much they actually want to be out here and how much they actually want to break the curfew. And in regard to the difference that we're seeing tonight versus previous nights, Governor Tim Walz specifically said, he did not want to see the 48 hours of anarchy that had played out over the course of the previous two days. Then, last night, what happened? We saw more anarchy. So, tonight, he added extra resources along with the city and other adjoining agencies as well to try and stop the looting, to try and stop things going on fire.
And let's be clear. Officials here have drawn the line at protesting versus throwing a Molotov cocktail into an open business, for example. They are advancing up, so we're going to back up some more here.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Omar, they want you guys out of this area. They don't want you in this area. And what is the game plan here? Is this to enforce the curfew? Is this to get you away from the police station? Is this to get you away from the bank? What is the game plan? Do you have any idea?
JIMENEZ: It's unclear right now what the exact game plan is. What we have seen is at the very least they are pushing us away from the police precinct, which they may have made an operational priority in this since we had seen the police precinct or the police station, the 3rd Precinct to go up in flames a few nights ago.
So, that could be the emphasis of this movement, but also the major faction of the crowd had gathered in that intersection outside of the precinct. So, it could also be an effort to just disperse people and try to stop the sort of mob mentality that can kind of happen when you have large groups together.
I can tell you we have advanced basically up a block and over to the right behind some cover of Office Depot right here. And as we look the opposite way in the direction of the precinct, about a block over, we don't see any police. So, it seems to be moving again, methodically just up that street for right now.
And beforehand, they were flying helicopters, circling around this area, potentially trying to see how or what spots had the most amount of people to decide where they were going to start their advancement, but again it could also be because they're trying to protect that 5th Precinct of Minneapolis police.
But again, I talked about how few the numbers were just a minute ago. You see right now, you can see space in between people, as we still see flash bangs go off, as we still see more tear gas being fired in the direction of protesters, when minutes ago, that intersection was packed, filled with hundreds of people, and here we are, close to an hour into the curfew, and that enforcement didn't begin until 20 to 30 minutes into that curfew.
And by the way, Don, I want to say the conversations that we were having with some of the protesters beforehand, was that it was eerily quiet as you see them advance past our cover right now, people trying to throw -- you see them as people, as protesters are advance -- or retreating I should say. Let's see how they line up here. They're moving in a circular fashion to sort of create a line there, but they are scaling the fence, that concrete barrier.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down, Taka (ph).
JIMENEZ: I would move back -- Taka (ph) - I'm speaking one of our photographers. You can see them - gas there - they have been using the same things here.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Omar, this is certainly different when you look at the police presence -
When you look at the difference in police presence between tonight and two nights ago, where police had basically retreated, obviously this is reinforcement. This is what Minneapolis needed when they brought in those 500 National Guard, when they brought in the state police and so on and so forth, and when they set fire to the police department the other night. Perhaps if they had had those reinforcements that night, the police department may not have been burned.
JIMENEZ: Well, and I think there may have been in at least the beginning stages an underestimation of how many people would show up, how much damage would be caused to the city, and how it would influence some of the next nights that we have seen. Because some of the images that would come out of our first night you have to think would inspire others to potentially do more of the same the next one.
