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Questions Surround Atlanta Police Actions Before Fatal Shooting; Trump Postpones Tulsa Rally; Rio de Janeiro Health Workers Hit Hard By Outbreak. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired June 14, 2020 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Natalie Allen live from CNN Center.
Nearly three weeks of nationwide protests over police brutality in the United States reerupted with fury in Atlanta, Georgia, late Saturday, following the police killing of another African American man.
It began Friday night, outside a fast food restaurant in south Atlanta with what normally would be a routine police call about a man sleeping in a vehicle. But it quickly escalated into a violent and deadly encounter.
Angry protesters converged on the scene the following night. The restaurant was set on fire and burned for hours. Several vehicles were also torched. The nearby interstate was shut down for a time by protesters.
The officer who fired the fatal shot, seen on the left, was quickly terminated. His partner was placed on administrative duty. And the city's police chief announced she was stepping down from her post.
The chaos was captured on several videos; a warning: they are difficult to watch.
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ALLEN (voice-over): The first video was taken by a bystander. It shows the two officers in a tense struggle with 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says Brooks failed a field sobriety test and was resisting arrest.
Brooks manages to break free of the officers after grabbing one of their Tasers.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ALLEN (voice-over): The next video taken by surveillance camera shows what happened next; again, it is graphic. Brooks is seen running with the police in pursuit. At one point he turns and appears to discharge the Taser at the officers. Moments later, he falls and is pronounced dead at the hospital. Atlanta's mayor says the officers were wrong to use deadly force.
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MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D), ATLANTA, GA: I do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force and have called for the immediate termination of the officer. Chief Shields has offered to immediately step aside as police chief so that the city may move forward, with urgency, in rebuilding the trust so desperately needed throughout our communities.
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ALLEN: An attorney for Brooks' family said firing the police officer and the chief of police resigning are not enough.
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L. CHRIS STEWART, BROOKS FAMILY ATTORNEY: I can just say we want justice but I don't even care. I don't even know what that is and I've been doing this for 15 years. I don't know what justice is anymore.
Is it getting them arrested, is it getting somebody fired?
Is it a chief stepping down?
I know that this isn't justice, what's happening in society right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Let's go now to CNN's Dianne Gallagher live in Atlanta for us.
It is the middle of the night now, Dianne.
What do we know about what's happening at the scene?
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So it is about 4:00 in the morning here right now. And the last of the protesters broke up about an hour ago in Atlanta. Those last moments, though, much like the -- it began, when things started to go awry here in Atlanta.
Tear gas, irritants deployed into the crowds, to try and make them disperse. They had about 36 arrests in Atlanta due to the protests tonight.
There were periods of time when the firefighters said they could not get to that restaurant, where you showed the video there, that Wendy's on fire, because of the number of protesters in the area at the time. And, look, Natalie, this is something that we have been seeing here on
the streets of Atlanta, mostly peaceful protests, since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. When it was one of their own, that anger, that frustration, that pain simply exploded and we saw the result of that overnight and into this morning, in those protests.
Again, for the most part throughout the entire day on Saturday, the protests after Rayshard Brooks' death were peaceful. And as it began to get dark, things began to change and that's when you saw the protesters there across the interstate and you saw the Wendy's be lit on fire.
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ALLEN: Right. It is hard to comprehend that this happened in the midst of national and international protests over the killing of George Floyd.
Has there been any word from the Atlanta Police Department or work by this department since the protests, have they addressed any of their policies?
GALLAGHER: So the Atlanta Police Department had been working for some time, even before these protests, on trying to improve relationships with the community. We heard a lot about different cities across the country, attempting to make their police forces look more like their communities in terms of ethnic makeup, race.
Atlanta did that. They have police force that has a large contingency of black and brown officers and there is still a deep-seated distrust in the community. We have spoken to these protesters; for them, they feel there is a lack of accountability when it comes to officers and their actions.
Now look, since the protests began, we have seen quite swift action when it comes to public events. Just about two weeks ago, there was a very public event with some disturbing video of two college students being pulled from their vehicle, aggressively tased.
The mayor announced that the officers, four of those six officers were fired. Six of those officers were charged, various charges from aggravated assault down to destruction of property.
But the people that we have talked to have said they're not sure if that's enough for them. They have seen the swift action. But, Natalie, they feel like some of this is because the world is watching right now.
For the protesters we have spoken to, they need for this to be systemic. They want an overhaul in change that is more than just when Atlanta's grabbing headlines. They want this to be a culture change and beyond protests. They want it to be within their community.
So while we have seen this swift action, the police officer who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks was fired. But most of the protesters that we have spoken to and people in Atlanta say they're waiting to see what happens next. That they feel like these are just steps in the right direction, that they're not nearly getting what it is they want.
ALLEN: Yes. It is pretty clear there is a way to go here. Dianne Gallagher for us, Dianne, thank you so much.
Georgia's NAACP branch has been demanding that Atlanta's police chief step aside, which he quickly did. The president of the national NAACP spoke with CNN earlier. Derrick Johnson says the culture of American policing needs to change.
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DERRICK JOHNSON, NAACP PRESIDENT: It's unfortunate that we are repeating this now. Over the last six weeks, this is the fifth incident dealing with some sort of videotaped, racialized activity.
If in fact he had been drinking, we would have preferred him to stop at the Wendy's drive through, take a nap, then drive, than drunk driving and kill someone else.
Police need training. This is not acceptable. I commend the mayor of Atlanta for taking decisive actions to ensure the safety of her citizens. I commend all of the protesters who are continuing to raise the question.
And that question is central. We need to change the culture of policing. We need to evaluate how we train police. We need to make sure police not only support the communities that they have a duty to protect and serve but they need to be in the community.
We have far too many officers who live outside the jurisdictions in which they work, therefore they have little to no regard for the citizens. This is another indication that we must change the culture of policing in our communities.
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ALLEN: A private investigator has been hired by the Georgia NAACP to gather their own information about the shooting.
Joining me now is Jerry Clayton, the sheriff of Washtenaw County, Michigan, home of Ann Arbor. He joins me now live.
Good morning to you, Sheriff. Thank you for coming on.
SHERIFF JERRY CLAYTON, WASHTENAW COUNTY, MICHIGAN: Thank you for having me.
ALLEN: I want to talk to you big picture about what is going on in our country right now. But first, let's talk about this incident in particular, that ended in the death of Rayshard Brooks.
Can you see a reason from what we know about the videos we have seen why this officer used deadly force on Mr. Brooks as he ran away or tried to run away?
CLAYTON: There is nothing in the images that I can see. What I will say is obviously the mayor acted swiftly. It is my assumption -- I do not know this for a fact -- she acted based on information she received because of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
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CLAYTON: She received information -- and I would assume based on that that it was reasonable for her to believe that the force used was not appropriate, given the actions of the subject that they were encountering.
ALLEN: You have been a leader in law enforcement for decades. And you teach training to agencies around the U.S. and around the world.
What should that officer have done as someone is running away from the scene when you're trying to arrest them?
CLAYTON: So there is a transition period, so from -- when you see the first part of the video, they're in a wrestling match, both officers in a wrestling match with the subject. He grabs the Taser and, at that point, that's a critical situation.
But then he breaks free and now he starts to flee. And the officers are giving chase. So there is distance between the subject and the officer. There are two officers, not one. And even with the subject turning back and pointing the Taser, it is my belief there is time, there is space.
We know who this person is, we can know who they are, based on -- I assume they have done sobriety tests, they have asked for identification, they possibly have identification.
From what I can see, there is opportunity to apprehend this person without discharging your firearm. And that's really what we want. And at the end of the day, let's remember, the original call was a man sleeping in the Wendy's drive-through lane.
ALLEN: Absolutely. Well, at a time when Americans and the world even have been in the streets demanding, pleading for police reform and justice for the killing of black people, it is surreal, it is beyond surreal that this happens again.
How do you make sense of it?
CLAYTON: Well, it is years and years and decades and decades of conditioning, both in the profession and from societal standpoint. We have known through countless studies throughout the country that there is patterns and practices of discriminatory behavior in some agencies.
I've been part of studies where we found no pattern and practices. But it does exist. I think it would be naive of us to think, just because of the protests that have happened over the last two to three weeks that, all of a sudden, there would be this complete pivot and we would automatically stop seeing incidents like this.
This is like trying to turn a huge cruise ship around. It is going to take time. We're looking at pattern and practices, as I said, for decades and decades. And the thing we need to think about is -- I heard this mentioned earlier -- this is about culture. This is about societal culture, this is about culture in the profession.
Listen, the objective of policing is noble. There is nobility in policing. But there is not perfection in policing. And I think the profession, we, have ignored the calls of people, especially black and brown, for way too long.
And now there is voice, there is action, there is call for immediate action. But I also think we need to understand and we have to take a thoughtful and strategic approach to actually changing the culture in this profession to reflect what is expected from the community.
ALLEN: I understand that.
What would be step one in changing the culture?
We heard a lot of ideas talked about in this country right now, that maybe it is not always police officers that respond to certain issues. And, again, as you mentioned, it is important that police officers operate in the communities they serve.
CLAYTON: So I think it is a multitude of things. And part of it -- I hear a lot; there are sound bites, simple solutions -- this is complex. From a culture standpoint -- and this is individual organizations, so we have it look at it from the professional role. We have to start thinking about what are the basic assumptions that drive the police profession.
We're here to serve, treat people with dignity and respect, really honor and maintain the sanctity of all human life. Those are the -- how we start. And that has to be preached to everyone in the profession and reinforced.
We have law enforcement leaders that is doing that on a daily basis. There are good examples of strong police agencies. And what I mean by strong is having a really good relationship with the community, where they're building strong and sustainable communities by co-producing public safety, which is more than just law enforcement.
It is about food insecurity, housing insecurity, transportation, all of those things that police can't solve. But we should be at the table when all of those discussions are happening, so we find where we fit in that larger architecture. I think all of that is important. I want to mention one more thing, too.
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CLAYTON: The George Floyd incident sort of sparked this moment. And the moment requires immediate action and immediate impact. We want to see results. People want to see results.
But what we're on the precipice here is -- an actually police reform era. So police reform, criminal justice reform, which has already started, social justice reform, which requires the deconstruction of institutional, structural and systemic racism that is brought on by white supremacy.
Think about what we're talking about here. We're on the precipice of an enormous change, not only of this country but worldwide in terms of how we interact with people and the policing profession is just a part of that.
ALLEN: Well, we hope with your expertise and experience you'll be part of the solution. You sound like you have very good ideas about it. Sheriff Jerry Clayton, thank you for your time. Thank you.
CLAYTON: Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: Next here on CNN, Dr. Anthony Fauci has a new warning about the COVID-19 pandemic. Why the worst may be yet to come for many states.
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ALLEN: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says his state has tamed COVID- 19, reporting the lowest number of new deaths and hospitalizations since the virus began surging in March.
The state says just 32 lives were lost on Friday and now claims the lowest infection rate in the country. But more than 1 dozen states are still seeing a rise in cases with hotspots out West and in the South.
The governor praised New Yorkers in a news conference saying their actions had saved thousands of lives. Meantime, America's top infectious disease expert warns that states shouldn't cut corners as they begin to reopen. Here's CNN's Polo Sandoval with more.
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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dr. Anthony Fauci with a new warning as coronavirus case counts are rising in 19 states.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If you leapfrog over different phases, you increase the risk that you're going to have the kind of resurgences that we're seeing in certain of the states.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Has the United States stalled in the fight against coronavirus?
FAUCI: I'm not so sure we can say it's stalled. What we're seeing right now is something obviously that's disturbing.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): With more people congregating in public places, recent protests and the lack of a vaccine, experts are concerned. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're in the early days of a pandemic. If only 5
percent or 10 percent of the population has had this infection, we have a really long way to go.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Since Memorial Day the number of hospitalizations has gone up in at least a dozen states, according to data CNN collected from the COVID-19 tracking project.
North Carolina has seen the most cases reported in one day since the pandemic began, Democratic governor Roy Cooper said.
South Carolina has seen a large increase in daily new cases. On Thursday, the state saw its single largest daily increase since the pandemic started.
Florida's average new case count is about double since June 1st.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As you test more you're going to find more cases.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): And Governor Ron DeSantis says there are new outbreaks in farming communities.
In Houston, Texas, they're prepping a field hospital at the Texans NRG stadium just in case. COVID-19 rates in Texas hit an all team high.
In Arkansas, a record number of cases reported in the last 24 hours.
DR. ASHISH JHA, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: If things continue on the current trend we're going to lose 20,000 to 30,000 Americans a month and nothing in the foreseeable future stops that unless we really do things differently.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Dr. Fauci cautioning states to rethink their reopening strategies if they see increases in hospitalizations.
FAUCI: Let's see where we're going. Maybe we need to slow down a little. Maybe we need to intensify our capabilities to identify, isolate and contact trace. We don't want it to get out of hand again.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Oregon and Utah have paused their reopenings. California's Orange County relaxing its mandate for face coverings, neighboring L.A. County recorded its single highest increase moved into phase three.
Gyms, day camps and TV film production is among the businesses reopening.
All of Missouri will be open next week and concerts and conventions can resume in Georgia July 1st.
Officials at the CDC are reiterating the importance of social distancing, wearing face coverings in public and washing hands frequently.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ALLEN: Dr. Fauci also has a warning ahead of President Trump's plans to resume rallies. He says large events should be avoided but, if people go, they need to wear masks.
Let's talk more about these trends here in the United States. Joining me from London is Dr. Clare Wenham, thank you for coming on.
DR. CLARE WENHAM, ASSSITANT PROFESSOR OF GLOBAL HEALTH POLICY, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE: Good morning.
ALLEN: Good morning to you.
Well, if things continue on this current trend, the loss of life could be staggering in the United States. We understand people want to get their lives back to normal, their livelihoods.
But at what cost with these current spikes?
WENHAM: Well, this is exactly the problem. I think the thing that is most scary about this is countries opened up too soon are seeing second spikes, even countries which aren't opened up too soon are seeing second spikes.
We saw that for example in China over the weekend. What we have learned from looking at other places is that those countries that impose the harshest economic lockdowns and completely kept everyone at home and took a massive economic hit in the short term are coming out of this in the long term better economically and with fewer cases.
And so it is a question of taking that hit for the longer term gain.
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WENHAM: My concern about what is going on in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, opening up too early, is this is going to rumble on and it is not a zero-sum game between the economy and public health. You need public health for people to be healthy and to have an healthy economy.
ALLEN: Absolutely. That point has been lost sometimes. Let's use South Carolina as an example. It was among the last states to issue a stay- at-home order. On May 4th, among the first to reopen. It had some 770 new cases yesterday. That's the highest daily number recorded there.
The governor says the lockdown will not return.
So what could a state like South Carolina see if this trend continues and it remains open?
WENHAM: Well, we're just going to see continuing numbers of cases, continuing numbers of deaths and, you know, continuing economic crisis, as people won't be going out in public, they'll be too scared.
And if they do go out in public, they'll be putting themselves at risk. So it really makes no sense to me why governors and states want to do this to a population, want to expose their population to public health harm and risk of being infected if there are simple steps that worked elsewhere that can be taken.
ALLEN: Well, we know politics is at play as well, unfortunately, in this situation. Well, there have been new infections nationwide and we know globally, you mentioned it, Latin America, Russia are seeing massive deaths.
And now news that resurfaced in Beijing, which shut down the biggest meat and vegetable market due to a cluster that developed around it. Beijing has reportedly gone into war mode.
What does that say about the obstacles this virus continues to present?
WENHAM: I think it shows we are not anywhere near the end of the outbreak. People think to think because some places are moving out of serious lockdown and the economy is starting to reopen that this is over.
This is far from over. This can appear anytime. I think, look at the difference between the Chinese reaction to 50 cases and the U.S. reaction to 2 million cases. We can see completely different prioritization.
The Chinese government does not want this outbreak anywhere near them again. They recognize the short- and long-term implications of this on their economy, on their political system, on their population. And so they are clamping down quickly and hard, to make sure that, no, this does not spread further in Beijing.
Right. And we know back in the United States, other than businesses opening next week, the president of the United States begins his rallies again, the governor in Georgia, which has seen an uptick in cases as well, will allow sports and conventions to resume July 1st, with restrictions.
What risks will this pose?
WENHAM: Well, this poses serious risk. Any gatherings pose risk. We saw that, you know, at the beginning of the outbreak, when we -- in the U.K., for example, we let horse racing go ahead and that deemed to be a super spreading event.
These places where you have thousands of people meeting, if only a few of them have cases, which statistically they're likely to have, that can pose a risk to anyone they walk past, particularly if these are indoor events, which we know is in the transmission.
While it may be appealing to the popular vote now, if suddenly all your voters are ill, are they going to turn out in November to vote?
ALLEN: We appreciate your insights, Professor Clare Wenham joining us. Thank you so much.
WENHAM: Goodbye.
ALLEN: Next here, violent protests break out in Atlanta, Georgia, after another African American man is gunned down by police.
And like so many incidents these days, it was captured on video. We'll have the latest developments for you in the story just ahead.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Natalie Allen.
Atlanta's chief of police has resigned and a six-year veteran of the force has been fired following the police killing of another African American man.
It began Friday night with a routine police call outside a fast food restaurant in south Atlanta and quickly turned deadly.
This is the fire that you're seeing that occurred after the shooting at a Wendy's. The next night, protesters set this business on fire and briefly shut down the nearby interstate.
The officer who fired the fatal shot, seen on the left, was immediately terminated. His partner was placed on administrative duty.
The chaos was captured on several videos, which we're going to show you; a warning: they are difficult to watch.
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ALLEN (voice-over): First video was taken by a bystander, showing the two officers in a tense struggle with 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks. Brooks manages to break free of the officers after grabbing one of their Tasers.
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ALLEN (voice-over): The next video taken by surveillance camera shows what happened next. Again, it is graphic. Brooks is seen running, at one point he turns and appears to discharge the Taser at the officers. Moments later, he falls and later dies of his gunshot wounds.
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ALLEN: Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League and former mayor of New Orleans. He spoke to our Wolf Blitzer and explained how there are still many questions about the police officer's actions even before those fatal shots were fired. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARC MORIAL, NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE: This man was shot in the back, while fleeing and he was using a Taser, which is not a deadly weapon. I think importantly, Wolf, that part of this matter, that part of this case and then at the beginning, what in fact caused the tussle between the police officers and the gentleman?
What caused that at the beginning of the case?
Did the officers act in a provocative way, in a way that escalated a conversation?
It would be very troubling to me if they sought to arrest him without conducting a field sobriety test, calling out for the breathalyzer truck to come out and determine whether or not he in fact broke the law. Enough is enough, Wolf.
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MORIAL: This is an emulation of cases which seem to just fit a pattern. An unarmed black man is shot by the police either fleeing or not doing anything threatening or provocative. It was unnecessary use of force in this instance.
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ALLEN: On Saturday, the cousin of Rayshard Brooks spoke with a crowd at the Wendy's. Decatur Redd was understandably emotional. Here is some of what he had to say.
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DECATUR REDUCED, RAYSHARD BROOKS' COUSIN: I don't know how to do this. I never knew I was going to have to do this. I watched this on the Internet. From the whole George Floyd situation to us coming together like we're doing something. And this whole thing landed on my doorstep with my little cousin.
I just think for me, the most hurtful thing for me is to watch the video, wake up and watch that video. And I got two little boys. They see the same video. That's their cousin. That's what hurts so much. I just -- I thought Atlanta was higher than that. I though it was bigger than that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Redd went on to say, for too many years he has watched young black men dying in vain around this country.
The U.S. president is avoiding direct references to the issues gripping the entire country right now. On Saturday, he addressed some 1,100 graduates at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point at a socially distanced ceremony. Here's some of what the president had to say.
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TRUMP: I also want to thank the men and women of our National Guard, who respond with precision to so many recent challenges, from hurricanes and natural disasters to ensuring peace, safety and the constitutional rule of law on our streets.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump delivered the commencement address at West Point on Saturday. And while he did say that America was facing a turbulent moment, he really sidestepped those flashpoint issues we're seeing across the country; namely, coronavirus and these massive protests after the killing of George Floyd.
When he talked about coronavirus, just thanked the military for all their work to help fight what he called the invisible enemy. But when it came to those protests, a moment where he could have used it to talk about racial injustice, he did not. He sidestepped that and, instead, seemed to focus on just the National Guard's role. Take a listen here.
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TRUMP: I also want to thank the men and women of our National Guard, who respond with precision to so many recent challenges, from hurricanes and natural disasters, to ensuring peace, safety and the constitutional rule of law on our streets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: So you hear it, there, just a vague reference to those protests that have been massive, that have taken up night after night after night in his back yard or front yard at the White House there.
But this is coming at a time where the president has really not offered remarks on unity or bringing the country together. And it is a time of deep unrest and a real reckoning on race in America.
And while he has, of course, condemned the death of George Floyd, he has not offered a more unifying message.
And that has really led to a lot of his top current and former military advisers distancing themselves from his response. But again, he did not use this opportunity to address that, to take this conversation one step further -- traveling with the president in New Jersey, Kristen Holmes, CNN.
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ALLEN: Well, the nation's top infectious disease specialist asked if he has warned President Trump about the danger of spreading the virus at the political rallies he'll be resuming. Here's what Dr. Fauci told Wolf Blitzer. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: When you're in a large crowd, if you have the congregation of people that are much, much closer to each other, you definitely increase the risk that you will either acquire or spread infections.
And I've said there are some people that are going to do that anyway, no matter what I say. But the issue is, if they do, please wear a mask all the time. Because a mask will give you some protection.
The best thing to do is to avoid crowded areas. But if you're not going to do that, please wear a mask.
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ALLEN: The president's upcoming rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has been postponed for one day. It has nothing to do with COVID-19 but rather a sudden outbreak perhaps of sensitivity by the president. Here is CNN's Abby Phillip.
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ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: After days of defending his decision to start his campaign rallies in Tulsa on Juneteenth, President Trump is now backtracking.
He said in a series of tweets that, after speaking to African American friends and supporters, he has been asked to postpone the rally and move it to another day.
Now Juneteenth is a holiday celebrated by many African Americans. It marks the day that some enslaved people in this country learned that they had been freed some years after the Emancipation Proclamation was actually signed.
Now here in Tulsa, news of President Trump's plans to host a rally was met with anger. Many of the residents here saying it was a slap in the face that the president would schedule a rally on Juneteenth.
On top of that, Tulsa is the site where, 99 years ago, hundreds of black residents of the city were massacred by an angry mob of white Tulsans. This is an incident many of the black residents have been trying to draw attention to for many, many years. It is a sore spot for the community.
And on top of that, recent days have brought renewed tensions between police and black residents in the city, all of it coming together to produce just a volatile environment here in this city, going into the end of this week.
Now organizers of a counter protest say they still plan to get people together to protest against President Trump's coming to this city. They say they still plan to go forward with that on Friday, even though President Trump has moved his rally to Saturday -- Abby Phillip, CNN, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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ALLEN: Clashes in London Saturday between police and far right demonstrators, they held a counter-protest near an anti-racism rally. We'll take you live to London next to tell you more about it.
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ALLEN (voice-over): London police say they made more than 100 arrests Saturday at the scene you're seeing right here. At times the far right protesters threw bottles at police and some scuffled with officers. Authorities had urged people to stay away from the rallies because of the threat of violence.
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ALLEN: For more on it, let's go to CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joining us.
There are peaceful protests across the U.S. but not so there in London. Good morning to you.
What was going on?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: Good morning, Natalie. I want to start by explaining to you where I'm standing today. I'm in Parliament Square; you see that big gray box behind me there, that's Winston Churchill's statue, boarded up.
This is the scene of yesterday's right wing demonstrations. We were here yesterday, we saw hundreds of people at the height of it, being aggressive towards the media, aggressive toward the police, bottles were thrown, insults were hurled.
It devolved into a game of cat and mouse in the streets around me here, as police tried to clear the right wing demonstrators, who say they were out here to protect cultural heritage sites like Winston Churchill's statue.
What is important to remember is that Black Lives Matter canceled protests yesterday, specifically because they did not want to be involved in this, specifically because they didn't want their image to be tarnished and for their by and large peaceful protests to be dragged into what happened here yesterday.
And they have been sharing images on social media, on WhatsApp groups, saying they're glad they stayed home. They're also saying this is a distraction from the real issues. We're talking about the very small right wing groups, fringe groups, a
few hundred people, when we really should be focused on the larger issue here, which is tackling racism -- Natalie.
ALLEN: Well, I want to ask you, since members of the Black Lives Matter groups, people who support them did stay away from this.
But what was their reaction to these far right protesters?
ABDELAZIZ: Natalie, it was one of being appalled. And there were some Black Lives Matter movement protesters who did come out yesterday, despite being told to stay home, a small group. But I did spend some time with them.
I asked them, why did go you out today despite being told to stay home?
They said, because we don't want to be afraid. We understand the right wing demonstrators are just a few streets away from us. But what they do is on them. What we do is on us.
So there is an act of defiance there among a small group of people, most of them who went home, peacefully, quietly. But the larger movement is really thinking about what is next, what do we do to take this momentum and turn it into real change -- Natalie.
ALLEN: Salma Abdelaziz, thank you.
The coronavirus pandemic is surging in Brazil and healthcare workers are bearing the brunt of this. What it is like for them on Rio's front lines. We'll have a report for you next.
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ALLEN: The World Health Organization says there are about 200 potential vaccines in development around the world and 10 of them have advanced to human trials. But some experts worry that U.S. president Trump will pressure the FDA to put a vaccine on the market before it is ready.
Senior Medical Correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen has more about it.
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ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Some news on the vaccine front: The University of Oxford in England saying they're already in phase three clinical trials.
Those are the large-scale clinical trials, where you really find out if the vaccine works. The University of Oxford saying that, along with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, they will be doing a trial with 42,000 participants.
Another company, Moderna, they say they are going to do a trial with 30,000 people. And that will begin next month. Now this is what the National Institutes of Health wants to hear. They want large trials, with around 30,000 people, so they can make sure that the vaccine is truly safe and truly effective.
But the issue is that it's the Food and Drug Administration that gives permission to vaccines to go on the market. And the FDA has not committed. They have not said we will require that there be trials in, at least, 30,000 people.
That has some scientists worried that President Trump is going to put pressure on the FDA to put a vaccine on the market, before it's been tested out on the full 30,000, just to have a vaccine and get votes in November.
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ALLEN: In Brazil, the mayor of the country's largest city, Sao Paulo, tested positive for the virus. He reportedly is showing no symptoms but the news comes as infections in Brazil continue to rise. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has more on how the outbreak is straining the country's health workers.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): Sleeping on the hospital floor after a shift, nurse horror stories from Rio de Janeiro, hit hard from COVID-19, poor and struggling.
Even in one image that shocked Brazil, the dead lying next to the living. Rio state's medical workers are dying more than anywhere in Brazil, 30 doctors and 40 nurses are workers.
Here's nurse Daniele Costa, describing her symptoms in isolation days before she died. Her friend, Libia Bellusci, a Nurses Union head, has had the virus and is hiding enduring lung problems from her family. She is better, though, enough to go back to work.
The worst she says is when in despair to help someone who's arrived newly in the red zone, we have to stop preparing a dead body for the morgue and leave it aside.
When Daniele died, it was in a hospital four hours out of town and Libia had to fight to get COVID-19 on her death certificate.
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WALSH (voice-over): The last time we spoke, she was radiant, she said. Her dream was to work in the ambulance service and her dream was coming true. We queued hours to apply for these jobs. She hugged me. Although we could no longer hug at that time, she was happy, she would use the uniform again. It was her dream.
PPE shortages are complained of, even though in this hospital ICU, we're told it's OK. The number of dying in Rio are hard to comprehend. Even though some say they're underreported.
In this hospital's ICUs, there are 88 full beds and about six to eight patients die every day. That's about 10 percent of ICU patients a day.
The containers out back with room for 75 bodies at a time, the peak hitting Rio now. Some experts think with health care staff already exhausted, mourning and burdened -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen. I'll have another hour of CNN NEWSROOM right after this with our top story, the Atlanta police shooting of an African American man.
