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CNN International: Hong Kong Protests; Protests Storm U.S. embassy in Baghdad for Second Day; Australia Bush Fires; North Korean Leader Says Country Is Free to Resume Nuclear Testing; German Zoo Fire; Pope Apologizes for Smacking Woman's Hand; World Leaders Set Agendas for 2020. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired January 01, 2020 - 11:00   ET

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

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HALA GORANI, CNNI HOST (voice-over): A new year but not a new dawn for Hong Kong. Tens of thousands of protesters take to the streets as police pull the plug on an approved march.

Then, Iran taunts President Trump, as a second day of violence breaks out at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

And the pope apologizes after a viral video shows him slapping away the hand of a devotee.

Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world on this first day of 2020, first day of the decade, in fact. I'm Hala Gorani and you're watching CNN.

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GORANI: Celebrations for the new year were short-lived in Hong Kong. Well, the new year kicked off just like the last one ended, with massive pro-democracy protests.

But march organizers later asked protesters to go home. They said that police forced them to end the rally and are trying to, quote, "separate Hong Kongers." Thousands of demonstrators welcomed 2020 by chanting for liberation before blocking roads and demanding concessions from the government. David Culver is live in Hong Kong.

What's going on right now, David?

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hala, as you noted, it was that calling off of the march earlier today that led to the clashes that we saw going on, really throughout the evening.

And that march, I should point out, according to organizers, was more than 1 million people. That's the number they gave. Police have not confirmed that number but, suffice it to say, it was a massive crowd that filled Victoria Park. And it was a mainly peaceful rally. These were families young

children with their parents and grandparents. And as that march continued, it started to thin out. The police set a deadline. I should say, they were restrained for much of that time.

But once that deadline hit, we started to see them move in. Let me show you some of the images we captured a short time ago as that first really front of the police officers started moving towards some of the barricades that were set up by protesters.

Protesters doing what we've seen them doing over the past six-plus month: taking bricks from the streets, some of the debris, umbrellas, building a barricade. Police actually using a vehicle to slam through it.

And then it was lit on fire by the protesters, so police brought in a water cannon to extinguish those flames. And they continued along.

And this is what we've seen now, you can see behind me, where police have kind of cordoned off several different intersections. This is one of those intersections. There's no protesters around. They're, at this point, just keeping it clear, because there's some debris in the road and the roads, for the most part, are staying shut down.

But the overall frustration is from the organizers. They say this is indicative of where 2020 is taking them. It's the start of the year; that they were hopeing that this peaceful protest would have perhaps been a way to vocalize their concerns, to make those five demands, democratic reforms, to push for police accountability.

They say by police ending this early and leading to these clashes shows they're only interested in stopping the violence and not hearing them out for the changes they want to see in Hong Kong -- Hala.

GORANI: So what does the future bring to these protests in Hong Kong?

Demonstrators are presumably vowing to fight on.

What form might that take?

CULVER: Yes, no question. I think, as of now, this is indicative of the start of the year and perhaps where it's going to go from here on. I mean, these protesters are feeling as though their voice is not being heard.

But at the same time, it's tough to see where dialogue can come from. Carrie Lam, the chief executive here, she delivered a new year message. And in that message, she said, I will humbly listen to find a way out.

But there were no details to explain what that would go forward with, what that listening would mean and if that would turn into action. And there's no indication that she would even be stepping down.

Of course, that's been some of the frustration here, is the lack of approval of her leadership here in Hong Kong. But Beijing seems to fully support her. In fact, just last month, she was up with President Xi Jinping in Beijing, where he then reiterated his support for her and her leadership.

So as she returns here and as we start this new year, all of that combined is still not boding well. It's just remnants of 2019, lingering into 2020, in the sense of the tear gas, well, that, too, is lingering.

GORANI: David Culver, thanks very much.

Now to a stark warning from the U.S. president, as violence erupts at the American embassy in Baghdad for a second day.

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GORANI: Donald Trump says Iran will pay, quote, a "big price" for any death or destruction after protesters began storming the building on Tuesday. They are angry over U.S. airstrikes launched against an Iran-backed militia over the weekend. As far as Tehran goes, it is denying having any role in these attacks.

A short time ago, Iran's supreme leader scoffed at Donald Trump's threat, saying the U.S., quote, "can't do anything."

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ALI KHAMENEI, IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER (through translator): When they come across incidents like this, as you can now see in Baghdad, all across Iraq, the frenzied feelings against America at the level that they are, then again that guy tweets or gives a speech or writes a report that we see Iran responsible, Iran has a hand in it and we will respond to Iran.

Firstly, you are wrong. It has nothing to do with Iran.

Secondly, if you are logical, which you are not, Americans must have common sense and they should know that they don't. You would see that the people of the countries in this region hate you.

Why do they not know this?

You Americans committed crimes in Iraq. You committed crimes in Afghanistan. You killed people.

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GORANI: CNN's Arwa Damon is standing by for us in Baghdad with the very latest outside of the U.S. embassy.

And you're overlooking the city now, Arwa, what's the situation at the embassy itself?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hala, we left a short while ago, because the Iraqi security forces came and said, look, we're restoring things back to normal. This is not an area where you can stand and broadcast. The protesters did end up ultimately withdrawing because, they say,

they had delivered their message to America. But they were making preparations, that, Hala, to stay the long haul. They had tents, they had mattresses, they had latrines.

But it seems like the leadership decided that it was at this point the time to begin withdrawing. They had torched every single entrance to this massive sprawling U.S. embassy compound. They had tried to breach it. They put their flags up all over the outer wall. Now the Iraqi security forces are there right now.

The big question is, where were they when these protesters were torching things?

Where were they when the protesters were attempting to breach the walls?

We ran into the minister of interior while we were down there and he evaded the question.

But we did speak to one of the soldiers who is stationed in the area and he said, look, when they came, what were we supposed to do?

Had we actually tried to confront them, it potentially would have led to something significantly bloodier.

And that really goes to the core of all of this, Hala.

Who were these protesters?

These were not your ordinary protesters. The vast majority of them were members of or supporters of what's known as the popular mobilization force.

This is a paramilitary force that is by and large made up of former fighters who were parts of any number of Shia militias, who were mostly supported, trained, equipped by Iran, back in the days of the U.S. occupation, who came together as a response to ISIS sweeping through huge swaths of Iraq.

And in the years that followed, they were ostensibly meant to be coming under the control of the Iraqi security forces; although, as we have seen, the exact amount of control Baghdad actually has over them is actually very questionable.

Now while we were down there, we also talked to the spokesperson for Kataib Hezbollah. That is the group that was targeted by those U.S. airstrikes that took place on Sunday that led to all of this.

He said that they had decided to withdraw because they had delivered their message to America and that now they were going to allow an undefined amount of time for the Iraqi parliament to go through whatever process it needs to go through, to demand that the Americans leave Iraq, because they said that is their ultimate goal.

GORANI: And Arwa, stand by. Ryan Browne at the Pentagon can join us. Ryan is in D.C.

The U.S. president says Iran will pay a, quote, "big price" for any death or destruction.

What is likely to transpire here?

Is this an escalation, in this kind of proxy war of words unfolding on Iraqi territory between the two countries?

RYAN BROWNE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're beginning to see a bit of an emergence of an Iran policy from this president. The Iranians shot down the U.S. drone several months ago. There was not -- he canceled a retaliatory response.

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BROWNE: But when these Iranian-linked militias killed this American contractor, the president ordered these airstrikes, which then sparked this counterdemonstration by that same militia.

So you're beginning to see an attempt by the United States to get control of the situation, prevent, deter these Iranian proxies from conducting any additional attacks, even though they're ostensibly part of the Iraqi security forces.

The U.S. believes they very much operate at the direction of Iran. And you see the United States military, moving additional forces into the region, 100 Marines to the embassy that were flown into the compound yesterday; additional 750 paratroopers being sent to the region to respond if a crisis emerges.

They flew Apache attack helicopters over the embassy compound, firing these flares that are defensive in nature but kind of serve as a show of force. And several thousand additional U.S. troops being placed on alert that could be deployed if the crisis worsens.

But we heard from one senior U.S. official, Brian Hook, the representative to Tehran, today, kind of citing these actions as the reason the situation is beginning to calm, the reason these demonstrators have begun dispersing. So the U.S., pretty much, at least publicly, saying that they're happy with the steps that they've taken.

And we heard from President Trump touting his response, comparing it to the situation in Benghazi, Libya, where the U.S. ambassador was killed, saying that the U.S. would not see that kind of thing.

GORANI: And the U.S. is blaming Iran. Donald Trump is blaming Iran.

How much control does Iran have over this militia and its actions, Arwa?

DAMON: Look, these groups that make up this paramilitary force, they have long-standing ties to Iran. Some of their commanders were in exile in Iran back in the days of saddam Hussein. And when the U.S. came in and toppled saddam Hussein, there was this

huge security vacuum. So they were very quickly able to move in and build up a very significant force.

And this is one of the main things that Iraq right now is grappling with, how to handle this, on the one hand, paramilitary force.

But also, every single entity that makes up that force, Hala, has representation in parliament and very significant representation as well.

And you do have this element within Iraqi society right now that is trying to pull the country away from any sort of outside influence. There have been demonstrations in Baghdad and in the country's predominantly Shia south for months right now asking for an end to corruption, a change to governance and an end to outside influence, to include Iran's influence and that of the United States.

The Iraqi president has yet to nominate a new prime minister. Remember, the current prime minister is in a caretaker role after he stepped down back in early December.

Now the president is holding back on this, because, as he has repeatedly said, the candidates being put forward, in his perspective, are viewed as being too pro-Iranian. So you have all of these different dynamics unfolding here.

On the one hand, you have in Iraq, this element that's trying to pull the country away from these outside influences and, at the same time, you have these very, very powerful, militarily powerful and politically powerful entities that still want to maintain these ties to Iran that aren't necessarily, in the perspective of many, in Iraq's best interests.

Plus, you have this proxy war that's happening between Washington and Tehran.

GORANI: Thank you, Arwa Damon is in Baghdad, Ryan Browne in Washington.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un skipped his annual new year's speech but did have a message to the world. The state-run news agency in North Korea reported that Kim told a party meeting that nuclear testing could resume in 2020, so this year, citing what he called "hostile U.S. policy" towards his nation.

North Korea last tested a nuclear weapon in September 2017 when it detonated a hydrogen bomb. The American president Donald Trump is dismissing the threat. Listen.

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TRUMP: He's representing his country, I'm representing my country. We have to do what we have to do. I think he's a man of his word, so we're going to find out but I think he's a man of his word.

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GORANI: Still ahead on CNN, hellish scenes from Australia. We have a rare, close-up view of the life-or-death situation fire crews are facing there every day.

Plus, a side of Pope Francis rarely seen. Why the leader of the Catholic Church is apologizing for what he calls a bad example, coming up.

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GORANI: From fires to floods to cyclones and droughts, Australia is battered and burned after a decade of natural disasters. And now, on the first day of 2020, the sky is thick with smoke from more than 100 active bushfires. There is so much smoke, in fact, it has reached New Zealand.

The weather has been a relentless accomplice, with heat wave after heat wave and no breakthrough in the drought. Fire crews, in many cases, just cannot keep up. The death toll has risen to at least 15.

And right now, the focus is on moving people out of the way of danger to avoid more casualties, if at all possible. The dramatic scenes on the front lines of the fires have captured the world, as Chris Reason from Australia's Seven News reports.

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CHRIS REASON, SEVEN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The central coast firefighters sent south to help with the kurowyn fire were caught on unsealed haimes road in nowrow. Embers cascade down from a fire off to the left that they can't outrun. It storms closer, the radiant heat almost unbearable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put the blanket out.

REASON (voice-over): Suddenly, it's like driving through hell. This urban fire truck has no sprinkler safety system. They are beyond vulnerable.

Flashover: the air so hot, everything explodes. This is life or death.

They know how close they came. The cabin could have been a coffin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we were in there, in the thick of it, we thought that this could be it.

REASON: The crew managed to escape safe and sound but it could have been so much worse. This was one of their trucks, completely destroyed. It's believed the brake lines melted and the wheels seized up.

How intense were the fires?

This is aluminum. It melts at 600 degrees but the firies say it was even hotter yesterday. That's like melted wax.

This crew forced to abandon the $700,000 fire truck, throw on breathing gear and flee.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It had got to a point where it was too dangerous to remain in the vehicle.

REASON (voice-over): They abandoned their $700,000 pumper, threw on breathing gear and raced to that truck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was right on my window. And the side of the truck had melted.

REASON (voice-over): That video now has gone global, headlining America's nightly news.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight, these apocalyptic scenes happening across Australia.

REASON (voice-over): And Britain's, too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Incredibly, they survived.

REASON (voice-over): An indicator of the inferno's intensity, a house on the same road set up a GoPro, capturing the furnace as it burst through the bush. At nearby Nowra RFS, it went pitch black at midday.

Those flags at half mast for firefighter Sam McPaul, who died at Jingellic. One of three officers now killed, it could have been more.

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GORANI: Unbelievable images there. And it's not over, as we were reporting for Australia.

And more sad news, this time out of Germany.

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GORANI: Dozens of animals have been killed in a New Year's Day fire that engulfed a zoo in the northwestern city of Krafeld. The victims included highly endangered species like orangutans and lowland gorillas, a very old silverback.

While the cause of the fire is still unknown, some witnesses say they saw sky lanterns flying close to the zoo.

Still ahead on CNN, after the break, Pope Francis ends his New Year's Day with an apology. We'll show you the moment he says sorry and why and what for, what he's saying sorry for -- next. Plus, fireworks light up the night sky from New Zealand to this display in Hawaii, as the world welcomes in 2020 and hopes for a more peaceful, calmer year. We'll be right back.

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GORANI: Pope Francis is marking the Catholic Church's World Day of Peace by speaking out on violence against women. In his first message of 2020, the pontiff called it "a desecration of God." But take a look at what happened the night before his speech.

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GORANI: The 83-year-old was visibly irritated after a woman grabbed his hand while he greeted a crowd on New Year's Eve. He has since apologized for this. Joining us now from Rome is CNN's senior Vatican analyst and senior correspondent for "The National Catholic Reporter," John Allen.

So John, the pope apologized. What happened -- we never really -- I've never really, anyway, seen his lose his temper in any way.

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SR. VATICAN ANALYST: Well, actually, Hala, this is not entirely unprecedented. We've seen the pope react in uncomfortable situations this way before. But what makes this situation different, of course, is that he immediately apologized.

He did this in his noontime message here in Rome for New Year's Day. Let's give a listen to what he had to say.

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POPE FRANCIS, PONTIFF, ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): Love makes us patient. So many times we lose patience, even me. And I apologize for yesterday's bad example.

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ALLEN: So that bad example he was referring to, of course, was the incident you showed from the night before on New Year's Eve, when he had been outside St. Peter's Basilica after leading a vespers service. The pope usually goes out to look at the nativity set that the Vatican has set up in the square and he greets people who were there.

In this case, he was sort of working the rope line. He was trying to go over to the other side. A woman reached out and grabbed his hand and just wouldn't let go and, frankly, the pope kind of lost it. As I say, we've seen this before.

You know, when he was in Mexico, for instance, in 2016, a young man had reached out and tried to grab him, causing the pope to stumble, actually, into the wheelchair of a disabled person who was there. An angry pope looked up at the young man and told him not to be so selfish.

Earlier this March, the pope was in Areto, people were trying to kiss his ring, he yanked his hand back.

Look, he's an 83-year-old human being.

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ALLEN: But in this case, he's apologized and that probably will mark the end of the tale.

GORANI: All right. John Allen, thanks very much.

Still ahead, as we welcome in 2020 and the new decade, we look at what some world leaders have planned for the year ahead, what they're promising their fellow citizens. We'll be right back.

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GORANI: Well, the world is celebrating the first day of the new year and the first day of the new decade after a night of celebrations and fireworks, you're seeing just some of the festivities here. They covered 39 different time zones starting in samoa and tonga and ending in some remote U.S. islands in the Pacific.

Some world leaders welcomed the new year with speeches to set their agendas for 2020. The German chancellor Angela Merkel is making climate change a top priority.

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ANGELA MERKEL, CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY (through translator): It will be our children and grandchildren who have to live with the consequences of what we do or refrain from doing today. That is why I use all my strength to ensure that Germany makes its contribution ecologically, economically, socially to getting climate change under control.

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GORANI: The British prime minister Boris Johnson said Brexit will be the first item on the agenda for 2020 and then he'll focus on improving the National Health Service and the quality of education.

The French prime minister, Emmanuel Macron, is vowing to get pension reform approved and maintain a solid relationship with the U.K. despite Brexit.

Both of those things will be challenges.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Hala Gorani. I will have a check of your headlines next.

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