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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Police, Protesters Clash in Ferguson; U.S. Airstrikes Helps Kurds Re-Take Part of Mosul Dam; Israel, Hamas Cease-Fire Nears End; Ukraine; Russia Peace Talks

Aired August 18, 2014 - 04:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news overnight. Violence in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. Tear gas, Molotov cocktails and gunfire.

Protesters furious over the police shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. The National Guard, the National Guard being deployed to the area. The latest over night and the details we have learned about how Michael Brown died. We are live where the city is under a curfew.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START this Monday morning. I'm Christine Romans.

It is Monday, August 18th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.

We welcome all of our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.

Let's begin with that breaking news: another night of chaos on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. Police in riot gear clashing with protesters, hours before a curfew that's now in effect. Tear gas, smoke canisters, rubber bullets were used to disperse a crowd that police say had encroached on a command post. Police say Molotov cocktails, bottles were thrown at them. Gunshots were fired. It's the most intense confrontations since the shooting of an unarmed teenager Michael Brown just over a week ago.

And now, we are learning the results of a private autopsy that was requested by the Brown family. It found Michael Brown was shot six times, twice in the head, four times in the right arm. Let's go live to Ferguson now and bring in Ed Lavandera, along with our CNN producer Steve Kastenbaum.

Ed, this was another very tense night and police say that this was not civil disobedience, this was aggression toward police.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they are saying it was a pre- planned event. That was part of the frustration here is that authorities are saying that a lot of the people involved in causing the chaos and the violence here are not necessarily people from Ferguson, but outside agitators. They say this was preplanned. It all kind of fell apart and deteriorated quickly in a stretch of about 45 minutes, starting about 8:30 Central Time last night. And that is when shots were heard. Two civilians were wounded and

then a line of protesters started coming toward where we are. This is the command center for the police structure here in Ferguson, which is probably a half mile away from where we have seen the most intense protesting and most of the violence over the course of the last week. And then, at that point, police here say that people with several Molotov cocktails were thrown toward the police lines and that they had to escalate their response back to these protesters.

The problem really last night, Christine, is a lot of people, these agitators and police say it's a small number of them. They were mixed in with the hundreds, several hundreds that had come out last night to protest peacefully. In that crowd, there were families with children and tear -- dozens of canisters of tear gas were deployed.

But the man who has been for the last four years in charge of the security here, Captain Ron Johnson with the Missouri State Highway Patrol and who has been -- become quickly a beloved figure in the community says that the police had no option last night but to ramp up their escalation.

Listen to a little bit of what he said just a short while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

CAPTAIN RON JOHNSON, MISSOURI STATE HWY PATROL: There were reports of Molotov cocktails being thrown. Police were shot at. Makeshift barricades were set up to block police. Bottles and rockets were thrown at police.

Based on these conditions, I had no alternative but to elevate the level of our response. For those who had claimed that the curfew is what led to tonight's violence, I will remind you, it was -- this incident began before 8:30. Three and a half hours before the curfew was to have started last night.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got to the shopping mall down at the end of (INAUDIBLE) behind West Florissant, they started throwing tear gas and smoke bombs, lots of them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were trying to run away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They told us to evacuate. A young lady got hurt. It's unacceptable. Not just one, many. We were peaceful. We were peaceful.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

LAVANDERA: And, Christine and Steve -- CNN producer Steve Kastenbaum is joining us. You were caught in the middle of all that.

What stood out to you the most?

STEVE KASTENBAUM, CNN PRODUCER: What stood out to me the most is how the tear gas and smoke canisters were being fired indiscriminately in all directions as this crowd of protesters were retreating back into the business district in Ferguson. And we had seen these people march out in peaceful protest knowing that there were families with little children in that crowd. That's what I was thinking, that they were firing tear gas on a crowd that, while they say there were Molotov cocktails thrown at them, we also know that there were children amongst those people as they were retreating.

LAVANDERA: It's a horrible situation anyway you look at this.

Now, the National Guard is coming in. We are interested to see how quickly they get here. What kind of numbers that they're deployed.

When you talk to people last night, did you get any sense that they were angry about the way this was handled or do they realize what situation the police were in last night?

KASTENBAUM: The people who live right there in that part of Ferguson want their community to be protected, first and foremost. They want their businesses to be protected. They also want to have the right to demonstrate peacefully and do it in the community, at least the ones we spoke to.

There were also people coming in from outside this community who are -- and we heard the gunshots last night. We were in a location, one of the locations that Captain Johnson talked about where a shooting took place. We were there, just a few dozen feet away. And one of our crew members actually saw the muzzle flashes from the gunfire.

So, we know that there are some people coming into these demonstrations with weapons.

LAVANDERA: And police say that some of these shots were fired directly at them.

KASTENBAUM: Right.

LAVANDERA: Two of the people wounded were civilians, not shot by police. We should make that clear, that that was other people shooting in the crowd.

The news of the National Guard coming in, you have been out there for us consistently over the course of last week. How do you think that news is going to be received when people wake up today?

KASTENBAUM: It really depends on the individual, I think. We have spoken to community members who want their neighborhood --

ROMANS: All right. Looks like we've lost that signal. You're listening to Steve Kastenbaum and Ed Lavandera.

And Steve Kastenbaum was telling us that he was in this crowd with these protesters last night and our CNN crew did witness people in the crowd shooting at police, shooting at police. Molotov cocktails, bottles thrown at police, the police escalating their response to those crowds and, of course, firing tear gas, according to our team -- shooting tear gas canisters into the crowd, a crowd that contained children. You can just imagine how terrifying it can be for people going with their kids, by the way, to try to protest.

But you have lawless elements in the crowd shooting at police, shooting indiscriminately. Just really dangerous situation a week after the police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old young man.

All right. Missouri's governor now taking action to keep the peace in Ferguson. Jay Nixon releasing a statement overnight saying he's deploying the National Guard in the wake of the latest clashes between police and protesters. He says, quote, "These violent acts are a disturbance to the family of Michael Brown and his memory. And to the people of this community who yearned for justice to be served and to feel safe in their homes."

The new chaos in Ferguson is being felt particularly hard for the men leading the police response, Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson.

CNN'S Don Lemon is looking at that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Overnight here in Ferguson, Missouri, this is what you see -- a very heavy police presence. This is a hot zone here. It's from West Florissant all the way down to the command center, the command center where Chief Ron Johnson, the head of this response, held a press conference, sounding tired, frustrated. He's exhausted and, no doubt, embarrassing.

Embarrassing to him because he is the man they put in charge because they believed that he related to the community, he comes from this community. He's used to dealing with police profiling and discrimination. Now, a few bad actors have made it worse for him.

At first, he took the large tactical units off of the street. He didn't want people pointing guns in people's faces. Now he is having to go back to that. It's not only embarrassing for him, you can hear it in his voice, but embarrassing for the family of Michael Brown as well.

A few bad actors taking the focus of what it should be, a police unit, a police force that doesn't necessarily relate to the people it is serving and protecting and off a young man who was gunned down in the middle of the street.

Don Lemon, CNN, Ferguson, Missouri.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Good work from our team there. Thanks, Don Lemon.

We're going to follow that all morning, again these developments, breaking developments on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri.

Now, I want to switch to Iraq and a battle for a strategic dam that supplies power to much of that country. The U.S. launching more than a dozen airstrikes against ISIS militants, that included bomber jets for the first time, helping Kurdish fighters on the ground retake parts of the Mosul dam.

Meantime, President Obama in a letter to Congress explaining the strikes, says the dam is critical to the security of the U.S. embassy.

CNN's Anna Coren following developments. She's on the phone for us in Mosul province.

Can you bring us up to speed, Anna?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Christine, we have (INAUDIBLE) with the Peshmerga forces, special forces within less than 15 (ph) kilometers off the damn. As far as they will let us go that (INAUDIBLE) fights on the horizon. They are exploding IEDs. The militants have left in their wake.

We understand the Peshmerga are now within two (ph) kilometers of seizing the dam, and obviously, we are hoping to get up to where those forces are fighting. They were hoping to get there yesterday. They were embedded with them yesterday and they were confident on seizing the dam yesterday. (INAUDIBLE)

As I mentioned before, these IEDs and land mines, they are leading their wake on the road, in the field, in buildings. That is certainly slowing down the process.

So, the dam is the largest hydroelectric dam in Iraq. It provides power to both Mosul and to Baghdad. It's vital. It is a critical piece of construction. ISIS could threaten to blow it up, which would be catastrophic. A wall of water, some 30 meters which hit Mosul that would fall on like five meters in Baghdad. It would be absolutely catastrophic.

So, as you can imagine, Christine, it is a very delicate operation but the Peshmerga forces, the commander here who's been charged, I got (INAUDIBLE) a short time ago, he's confident that they will be able to capture it sometime today -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Anna Coren on the phone for us this morning near Mosul , thank you. We'll keep in touch with you to see how that process is going just three kilometers away from the dam.

All right. The clock is ticking on the latest Gaza cease-fire. The five-day truce between Israel and Hamas set to expire in 13 hours. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are in Cairo talking about prolonging the peace. But the demands of the two sides won't be easy to reconcile. Israel insists Hamas must disarm. The Palestinian delegation demands an end to the economic blockade of Gaza.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen live in Gaza for us this morning -- Fred.

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine.

It certainly looks like several options are on the table with these peace talks that are going on. As you say, the two sides have to come to some sort of an agreement by the end of this day. And it seems as though the range of options is that they might not come to an agreement at all. There might be hostilities again. There might be Palestinian rocket fire coming from Gaza and Israeli airstrikes in return.

But there might be some sort of extension of the cease-fire or possibly a longer term cease-fire. Those are the options that are on the table.

Now, in the end, what it comes down to in the talks is security concern that is Israel has versus economic concerns that the Palestinians have. What the Palestinians want is they want the blockade that Israel imposed on Gaza since 2007 to be totally lifted. They want to be able to build their own seaport, their own airport, they want to come and go out of this place, whenever they want. They want to import and export goods when they want.

The Israelis say they have massive security concerns with that because they believe that Hamas might try and smuggle even more rocket parts into Gaza. And so, one of the options that seems to be out there is that there could be a partial lifting of the blockade, there could be international monitors who view what comes in and out of Gaza.

And the Israelis for their part are saying they want Hamas to disarm. They say they're tired of rocket fire. One of the things that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said is that there will not be a deal that does note takes Israel security concerns into full focus. That could be a deal breaker. The latest vibe that we're getting there out of Cairo is that for the past five days, it seems as though both sides wanted an agreement. But the latest that we're hearing is that both sides are not necessarily optimistic.

Now, what that means will have to wait to see whether or not they decide to prolong the cease-fire to try and give themselves more time to talk these things over, whether or not they go back to hostilities. I can tell you one thing from talking to people here on the ground in Gaza, they are absolutely fed up with the violence. They want some sort of longer term deal. They want economic prosperity. But most of all, they don't want to be subject to violence again, because a lot of people have lost their houses, a lot of people have lost loved ones. And they are simply fed up with the way things have been going the past couple years, Christine.

ROMANS: And that deadline, 5:00 p.m. Eastern tonight. Thanks so much, Fred Pleitgen, in Gaza.

We continue to follow the breaking news out of Missouri. A night of violence between protesters and police, angry crowds demonstrating against the controversial police shooting of unarmed teenager, Michael Brown. The National Guard now deployed to the area. You are going to hear from protesters caught in the middle of all of this, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: And welcome back. We are continuing to follow the breaking news from Ferguson, Missouri,

where police and protesters clashed in perhaps the most violent confrontation since the shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown just over a week ago. It happened just hours before a midnight curfew was set to take effect. Police firing teargas and smoke canisters in the crowd, moving in with armored vehicles after they say protesters encroached on the command post throwing Molotov cocktails.

This protester claims they were acting peacefully when police responded with force.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did 10 years in the military. I know what tear gas is when it's burning my face and my eyes. That's what they were shooting us with -- nobody throwing cocktails, no fire bombs, nobody shooting. We simply marched up to the command center to say, "hands up, don't shoot" and they started shooting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Missouri's governor is now deploying the National Guard to Ferguson. Meantime, the results of an independent autopsy requested by Michael Brown's family found that he was shot six times, seen in this diagram here, twice in the head, four times in the right arm.

Time for an EARLY START on your money. Asian stocks ended the day mixed, European stocks opening higher. Global stocks watching the fresh conflict between Russia and Ukraine. European stocks higher, sign of some progress there.

In the U.S., those concerns drove markets lower on Friday, but stocks (INAUDIBLE) losses managed gains for the week. That's the week right there.

Right now, U.S. futures are higher. Geopolitical concerns sending investors in the so-called safe havens like the bond market. Yield from the 10-year treasury currently at the lowest levels for the year, by the way.

But does this mean a correction is in sight? Some analysts say there are signs that the bull has more room to run. The U.S. economy is growing, hiring is up. Not to mention the strength of this quarter's corporate profit.

Seventy-three percent of companies exceeded expectations on Wall Street.

Twenty minutes after the hour. We'll continue to follow the breaking news overnight on the streets of Ferguson.

But, first, could there soon be peace between Ukraine and Russia? Negotiations happening just days after Ukraine destroys a Russian military convoy crossing into its borders. We are live with what's happening right now after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Twenty-three minutes past the hour.

Talks aimed at ending the fighting in eastern Ukraine are taking place in Berlin. Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers are meeting, along with their counterparts from Germany and France. It follows a weekend of heavy fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists with Ukraine's military reportedly making gains in the rebel-held city of Luhansk.

CNN's Will Ripley following breaking news where we learned pro-Russian separatists are attacking citizens of Luhansk trying to escape the region -- Will.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, just within the last two hours, we are getting reports that a group of people were trying to escape from the Luhansk region where some of the most intense fighting has been taking place for days now. Conditions there are unlivable. People need to get out.

But as these civilians were trying to get out, they came under heavy artillery fighting using rocket launchers, machine guns, that sort of thing. It's the latest attack on civilians. There have been a number of cases in recent days where we've heard of entire groups of civilians being killed. We know that this particular group was receiving an escort from the Ukrainian military.

This is all coming to us, by the way, from the Ukrainian military and the regional governor's office. And the regional press says, Christine, these people couldn't call for help because mobile phones continue not to work in the area.

And this comes after a very busy weekend. There was another convoy of what is described as rocket launchers, the grad systems that we've seen used, three of them reportedly across from Russia in the rebel- held territory. This is according to the Ukrainian military as well.

And a fighter jet, a Ukrainian MiG-29 was also shot out of the sky over the weekend. The pilot ejected safely. But these are just more examples of how the violence is intensifying. One piece of progress, according to the Ukrainian military, they were able to retake a police station that the rebels held in the city of Donetsk. They raised a Ukrainian flag over that police station.

And also for the first time, Christine, they also entered one of four districts of Luhansk, that they've been able to now fight in that city, street by street. But as we're seeing just now within the last couple of hours, the price of this progress is more innocent people dying in the conflict in eastern Ukraine -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Will Ripley, thank you for that. Will, we'll check again with you next hour.

The breaking news overnight: police fire tear gas after peaceful protests turn violent. Chaos fills the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. Crowds angry over the deadly police shooting of Michael Brown. The National Guard now called in.

What happened overnight and the new details were learning about the teen's death, that's all next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)