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Chinese Protesters Challenge Beijing and Zero-Covid Policy; Warnock, Walker Face Senate Runoff Election on December 6; Week One of Qatar World Cup, Upsets and Controversies; Ayatollah Khamenei Hales Forces for Crackdown on Protests. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired November 28, 2022 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo live from London. Max Foster has the day off today. Don't worry he'll be back. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They don't want COVID tests. They want freedom. They've been chanting this for hours.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): I would like to see a report being b as broad and inclusive as possible. Jordan and McCarthy will do nothing but carry Donald Trump's water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By Monday night, every team will have played two games and we'll have a much better sense of how Brazil's bid for a sixth world title is looking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.
NOBILO: It's Monday, November 28, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 5 p.m. in Beijing China.
But Chinese leadership is facing an unprecedented outpouring of opposition to its zero-COVID policies. Large crowds of protesters are openly defying the Chinese president and calling on him and the Communist Party to step down.
This was Beijing on Sunday as protesters denounced zero-COVID restrictions and called for political freedoms. But the government was quick to deploy police to control the growing crowds. Sunday night took a violent turn in Shanghai with police dragging people away and loading them into vans. All of this amid six consecutive days of record new COVID infections, with more than 40,000 new cases reported just hours ago.
A BBC journalist was among those arrested in Shanghai on Sunday, and it's unclear what caused his arrest. But this video obtained by Reuters showing him being dragged to the ground by multiple officers. The journalist has since been released but the BBC says he was beaten and kicked. Authorities haven't made any public statements on the matter so far.
So, for more now, let's bring in CNN's Beijing bureau chief Steven Jiang. Steven, this is truly remarkable to witness. This level of opposition to the Chinese government has not been seen since 1989. What's happening to the protesters? Are they continuing to gather steam?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Bianca, things appear to be mostly calm today after security and police forces around the country dispersed protesting crowds. But, you know, they used different means, some more violent than others as seen in the case of Shanghai. And even today on Monday, we have seen latest footage from the protest location in Shanghai where security barriers have been set up to basically prevent people from congregating and with people who tried to stop to take photo is being taken away by police.
But as you say, it is extraordinary to not only see how widespread those protests were but also demands from some protesters as you played out some of the sounds because up to that point on Saturday night in Shanghai, even the most vehement opponents of this so-called zero-COVID had been dancing around the issue of who is ultimately to blame for this growing disaster and the devastating consequences from this policy.
Most people still had been saying, oh, it was the incompetent overzealous local officials. But those protesters in Shanghai, as you said, really chanting slogans directly targeting the ruling party and its strongman leader. Basically, saying the system was the problem, and that may explain why they were received some of the harshest treatment in the hands of police authorities.
But the biggest fear, obviously, from the authority's point of view is also this kind of message inspiring others across the country. But that's exactly what we have seen ever since with people, as you mentioned, in Beijing but also in other cities in China as well. You know, following suit, chanting slogans, really going beyond the immediate end of lockdown measures but also shouting things like no to dictatorship, yes to votes and no to being a slave, yes to being a citizen -- Bianca.
NOBILO: Steven Jiang in Beijing. Thank you.
[04:05:00]
Meantime, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top health official in the U.S., says that China's restrictive COVID and vaccination policy is puzzling.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: It seems that in China it was just a very, very strict extraordinary lockdown where you lock people in their house, but without any seemingly end game to it. If the end game was to let's get everything vaccinated, including and particularly the vulnerable, then you can see how a temporary lockdown like that. But they went into a prolonged lockdown without any seeming purpose or end game to it, which is -- really doesn't make public health sense.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You understand their vaccination strategy?
FAUCI: You know, in many respects, Chuck, it baffles me. I mean, they can --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They refuse outside vaccines, right? They only use their own, correct?
FAUCI: Yes, which clearly with all due respect was not particularly effective at all compared to any of the number of the vaccinations that were available. But also interestingly, they did not, for reasons that I don't fully appreciate, protect the elderly by making sure the elderly got vaccinated. So, if you look at the prevalence of vaccinations among the elderly, that it was almost counterproductive. The people you really needed to protect were not getting protected.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Dr. Fauci will step down from his position as director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to the U.S. president in December.
These protests are a glimpse of the Chinese people standing up to the communist government and daring to openly call for the removal of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Here is why some experts say that is unusual.
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FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: China has often allowed protests, people have the mistaken impression they allow no protests. There are lots of protests but always on very specific local issues, food shortage or local corruption, you know, something like that. What is extraordinary about this one is that they are allowing protests in which people are talking more generally about Communist Party rule, as you say, no to COVID lockdowns, yes to freedom. There have even been Shanghai protesters who have said, you know, Xi Jinping resign, things like that. That is completely unusual. It is unprecedented. And for it to be happening in Shanghai, at the Tsinghua University, the university that Xi Jinping went to when he got his chemical engineering degree in the '70s, that is what makes this quite unusual.
STEVE HALL, CNN U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: In China, I really doubt that we got a situation where you're going to see sort of an overthrow of the Chinese Communist Party okay and the Chinese leadership. The Chinese security services, like all intelligence services in authoritarian countries spend a lot of time trying to penetrate, get inside these groups so that they can have spies inside to know what they're up to. So, it's a difficult balancing act, but I don't think we're going to see the collapse of the Chinese government any time soon. (END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Public protests and news of rising COVID cases have rattled the financial markets. In Monday's early trading, both the Shanghai come the Hang Seng took major blows and the Chinese yuan also plunged against the U.S. dollar.
And here's a look at the U.S. futures ahead of the market opening in just a couple hours. The dip in Asian markets may have an impact on U.S. markets but it's also cyber Monday. Online retailers are slashing prices to attract more customers. So, we'll see how the markets do in a couple hours' time.
Just over a week left before election day in Georgia Senate runoff between Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker. Democrats have a slim Senate majority but a win in Georgia would make passing legislation much easier. State officials say well over 70,000 voters cast early ballots on Saturday. Eva McKend has more for you.
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EVA MCKEND, CNN U.S. NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Senator Warnock rallying Georgians as a "Souls to the Poles" event Sunday. "Souls to the Poles" of course popular in the black church tradition. The idea being that you go to church and then you get your souls to the poles, you get out and go vote. And what we have seen in Georgia thus far is really robust turnout among black Georgians. About half of the 70,000 Georgians that turned out on Saturday were black Georgians. I asked Senator Warnock about this. He says that he's proud the Democrats have built this multiracial coalition here. But he told supporters earlier on Sunday that the Saturday vote did not come easy. That it is something that Democrats had to fight with Republicans for. Take a listen.
SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): We filed a lawsuit so you could vote on Saturday. They filed a petition asking for emergency relief. What you ought to ask yourself is, what do they want relief from? You want relief from people voting?
[04:10:00]
MCKEND: Now, for his part, Herschel Walker not on the campaign trail over the weekend, but he has a number of events this week, including in Cumming and Dalton, Georgia. Georgians have all this week to vote early and if they don't make it out this week, they, of course, can vote on election day, December 6th.
Eva McKend, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: A severe storm system developing in the U.S. could affect more than 25 million people from eastern Texas to southern Indiana on Tuesday. Forecasters say that heavy rain, tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail all possible. So, let's bring in meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. Pedram, tell us more.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good morning, Bianca. We're watching this carefully here because the system is developing right now across portions of the Western United States, impacting that region, parts of at least nine states dealing with winter weather alerts in places as much as over a foot of snow is expected.
And generally speaking, some of this has kind of settled in for places for the highest elevations but even down into some of the lower lying areas, places such as Seattle. They're on average December 26th or so, when you see the first snowfall of the season. They can tap into snowfall here in the last few days of November and possibly see multiple chances of wintry weather where the average temperature is about 50 for this time of the year.
That's the initial impacts of this particular storm system that brings with it some snow showers scattered about Western U.S. certainly going to impact travel in that region as well. But as the system migrates off towards the east, we kind of get a pattern similar to what you see develop across the southern United States in the spring season. System migrates off towards the east, tapping into some Gulf moisture from the south, back behind us, dry air coming in, cooler air coming in certainly with the front as well. And put it in place around the southern tier of the United States, come Tuesday afternoon.
Tuesday evening, we do expect the severe weather potential to exist there across areas of Memphis, points to the south near Jackson. It's where the highest likelihood here is in that area indicated in red, that's a moderate risk on a scale of 1 to 5, that is a 4, not something you see every single day and certainly not something you see in late November every single day. And the threat level does increase here for damaging winds, for some large hail and even some tornadoes. Possibly some stronger tornadoes and a 15 percent probability within this zone here within 25 miles of the point where tornadoes are possible and again significant tornado threat there for Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday evening including large cities such as Memphis.
Now, going to show you just how potent this front is here. Notice these temperatures, places like Dallas from the 70s dropping off into the 40s. St. Louis going from 63 down to 38 degrees. The passage of the front certainly brings with it gusty winds and the severe weather from Tuesday into Wednesday.
Forecast looking ahead to your Monday afternoon there, Salt Lake City around 40 degrees, in Seattle upper 30s. San Francisco only 57 degrees. And Bianca, looking at temperatures in and around Atlanta, not too bad, about 60 degrees. The calm before the storm in place there before the system arrives again some time Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday night.
NOBILO: Pedram Javaheri, thank you so much and we'll check back in with you tomorrow.
In the U.S. state of Maryland, a passenger and pilot have been rescued after their plane crashed and caused a blackout near Washington, D.C. This was the scene of the crash. You can see a small aircraft tangled in power lines high above the ground. Cheers went up in Montgomery County, Maryland, as one of the crash victims was taken to hospital.
The rescue took hours because emergency crews couldn't go straight to work. Here was the scene as one of the people in the crash was taken to hospital. They had to make sure that the power lines were grounded and bonded first, so they wouldn't be electrocuted. A rescue worker and witness described what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHIEF SCOTT GOLDSTEIN, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE: Both patients have been transported from the scene to local area trauma centers with serious injuries. And aircraft hit an aerial tower at about 100 feet in the air. It's not going to be stable until it's chained and strapped in place. Any movement, any accidental movement, could make the circumstance worse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I was just -- I kept praying. I've been praying for hours just because I wanted to see them come out alive. That was my only hope. And I was kind of hopeful seeing everybody, you know, just it was a great moment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Remarkable. The local utility company says tens of thousands of customers lost power due to the crash.
Still to come, a member of the House committee investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol is down playing reports of what may be excluded from the committee's final report.
Plus, a defiant speech by Iran's Supreme Leader as the U.N. is expressing concern about the ongoing situation in the country. Details on that for you next.
And it's been one week since football's top tournament descended on Qatar and the games have not disappointed. We're going to be live in Doha with Amanda for the highlights.
[04:15:00]
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Once again, it's impossible to suggest politics and sports don't mix. The politics taking center stage ahead of Tuesday's big clash between Iran and the USA. I'll be here live from Doha with all the latest in just a couple of minutes.
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NOBILO: You're looking at a group of ecstatic Morocco fans celebrating in Casablanca after their team's World Cup victory. Not only did the Atlas Lions win their first tournament match since 1998, they did it by defeating world number two, Belgium.
Meanwhile, at the Belgian capital, a completely different scene after the match. Fans lit fires in the street and threw objects at police. About 100 officers in riot gear used teargas and a water cannon to disperse the crowds. It's unclear what caused the unrest. Authorities have not issued blame.
[04:20:00]
We have another full day of group stage matches, starting in less than an hour. So here is a preview of the action. World number one, Brazil, will take on Switzerland but they'll do it without Neymar who is out for the rest of the group stage. And Cristiano Ronaldo will be back as Portugal looks to punch its ticket to the round of 16 in their match against Uruguay.
Meanwhile, a controversy before the U.S./Iran match on Tuesday. The U.S. soccer team altered the Iranian flag as a sign of solidarity with the Iranian protesters. Iranian state media says that the U.S. men's team should be kicked out of the World Cup for posting that image.
So, let's go now to Amanda Davies who is at the center of the action in Doha, Qatar. Amanda, there is so much to get into. First of all, let's look back on yesterday. Don't be influenced at all by the fact that I have Croatian roots and then look ahead to what we can expect to see today.
DAVIES: Yes, Bianca, I mean, there is so much to talk about. These games very much coming thick and fast, in this the shortest World Cup forever taking place over just five weeks as opposed to the normal seven or eight.
I mean, the buildup to today's Brazil match dominated by the talk of one man. That man, of course, somebody who is not going to be in action in Neymar. And coach Tite has said panic not. He has a plan. He knows who is going to step in to replace their talismanic forward, but he's keeping everybody on his toes, not revealing his secrets until just before the kickoff. He said, you know, he has a couple of players who absolutely have stepped up. Richarlison would score those two goals at game 4. Million followers extra on social media last week after his sensational performance in their first match. There's also 21-year-old Real Madrid's star Rodrygo who might well step into the breech.
The big thing for them is to try and control the emotion around losing such a star player as Neymar. That was something we saw the impact, the negative impact of that in 2014 after he was ruled out of that tournament as they try and keep their unbeaten run going.
As you mentioned, the other match in that group Cameroon that and Serbia about to kick off in the next half an hour or so. Those two teams both looking for their first win of this tournament, to keep their hopes alive. And that is something that Morocco produced in sensational fashion on Sunday. You could hear the North African fans cheering their side on very much enjoying their moment. Not only just getting the victory but getting the victory as you mentioned over the second ranked side in the world, a Belgium squad dubbed the "Golden Generation." And Morocco, just their third-ever World Cup success. That one a very, very special result. Still being celebrated.
The other one just to mention quickly the big European heavy weight clash Germany against Spain finished 1-1. NOBILO: And Amanda, you alluded to it earlier, we are witnessing an
astonishing politicization of these games. And we were just telling viewers that the United States' Soccer Federation, they posted the Iranian flag without the emblem of the government, this led to huge backlash from the Iranian regime. What's the fallout from that? And what more can we expect as they lead up to the game on Tuesday?
DAVIES: Yes, the match against Iran and the U.S. was always going to be played against a political backdrop, wasn't it? But the U.S. men's national team very much put that -- brought that to the fore on Sunday with that decision on social media to post the Iranian flag without the symbol of the Iranian Republic. They did it as they said in support of women in Iran fighting for basic human rights in the midst of the political turmoil and unrest. They've said it's very much just a move for 24 hours. And only via the social media platforms, not other platforms.
But Iran, for their part, via state media have called for the USA to be kicked out of the World Cup, to be given a ten match ban. FIFA for their part haven't commented as yet. But as is so often the case, even though U.S. soccer haven't revealed who took the decision, who was involved in making their decision, it's the players who front up publicly and have to answer these questions. And that is what happened on Sunday. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM REAM, DEFENDER, U.S. MEN'S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM: Like we said, we support women's rights. We always have. We always will. That message will remain consistent.
[04:25:00]
And what we're doing as a team is supporting that while also trying to prepare for the biggest game that this squad has had to date. And so, that is in this moment our focus. Supporting them, supporting the women's rights and also preparing for what is, you know, a crucial game for our group.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVIES: There's no doubt both coaches, Gregg Berhalter and Carlos Queiroz will be asked more about that later on Monday as they address the media for the last time ahead of that crucial game. Both sides treating it as a knockout, knowing they need to win if they want to make it through to the last 16 -- Bianca.
NOBILO: Amanda Davies life from Doha, thank you so much.
Iran's Supreme Leader is praising paramilitary forces for their role in the deadly crackdown on protests. The nationwide address he called the protesters, quote, rioters and thugs. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Iran's Supreme Leader making these comments during a meeting with members of the Basij, the volunteer paramilitary force that is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard Corp. the Basij has been at the forefront of the regime's crackdown on the protest movement.
Khamenei praising the Basij for confronting the thugs and rioters, the agents of foreign enemies, as he described them. Many seeing this as the Supreme Leader giving the green light for this brutal crackdown to continue. This has been the regime's narrative from the start. Dismissing the grievances of their people, these protests as a foreign plot by countries like the United States, Israel, the U.K. and others to try and destabilize the Islamic Republic. And they have used this as a pretext to crackdown on the protests.
We heard from the United Nations human rights chief on Thursday, urging the Iranian regime to listen to its people, to address their grievances. Saying that this narrative is a convenient one, a typical narrative of tyranny, as he described it. Saying that these old methods and the fortress mentality don't work anymore, that they need to listen to their people because this narrative is only aggravating the situation.
And this is exactly what we have been seeing happening over the past more than two months of these protests. The more they crack down, more people are killed, people arrested, this only making people angrier, more defiant, more determined to continue protesting, risking everything for regime change.
Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Istanbul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Mexican authorities are searching for an American couple who went missing during a kayaking trip in the Gulf of California. Local officials say that they're scouring the area near Rocky Point. According to a GoFundMe page, Cory Allen and his wife Yeon Su Kim were kayaking when winds picked up making it impossible for them to then return to the shore. Yeon Su Kim is a professor at Northern Arizona University.
In Pennsylvania, police say that this teenager has been charged as an adult after allegedly confessing to murder on Instagram and then asking for help to dispose of the young woman's body. 16-year-old Joshua Cooper is in custody and faces several charges, including criminal homicide. Officers say that they found the victim's body inside a mobile home on Friday with an apparent gunshot wound.
And a 12-year-old is dead and five teenagers are injured after a shooting near a popular shopping district in Atlanta. Police say a group of juveniles were escorted away from the Atlantic Station retail shops for unruly behavior in violating the properties curfew for those under 18. They say that a gunfire broke out a short distance away between individuals who knew each other and had a previous conflict with one another. Authorities say that three guns were recovered from the scene. And the debate over banning assault style weapons heats up after
recent mass shootings in Virginia and Colorado. What some lawmakers are saying about passing laws to ban assault weapons coming up.
House Republican Kevin McCarthy is vowing to strip Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff of his committee assignments if he becomes speaker of the House in January. Here is Schiff's response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Kevin McCarthy has no ideology. He has no core set of beliefs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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