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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

New Clashes in Ferguson; Airstrikes Help Recapture Mosul Dam; Gaza Cease-Fire Extended; New Violence in Ukraine

Aired August 19, 2014 - 04:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking new this is morning: the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, looking like a war zone. The National Guard trying to contain the chaos last night. Dozens arrested. Two people shot on crowd-on-crowd violence. Demonstrators furious over the shooting of the deadly shooting of unarmed teenager, Michael Brown.

Attorney General Eric Holder heading to Missouri tomorrow, promising transparency in this case.

We're live in Ferguson with the dramatic scenes overnight and what comes next.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. John Berman is off this morning.

It's Tuesday, August 19th, 4:00 a.m. in the East. We welcome all of our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.

Up first, a tense night in Ferguson, Missouri, with police in riot gear, firing stun grenades and tear gas, and a chaotic scene, as protesters demand justice for Michael Brown, the unarmed teenager fatally shot by police 10 days ago.

Police report rocks, bottles and Molotov cocktails being thrown at them. Dozens of people were arrested overnight. Some 31 arrests. The curfew was lifted, replaced by new rules, prohibiting protesters from congregating. National Guard troops also patrolling the streets.

Earlier Monday, President Obama called for calm in Ferguson. Attorney General Eric Holder will arrive there tomorrow to get an update on the federal investigation.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is live for us this morning in Ferguson, Missouri, along with CNN producer Steve Kastenbaum.

So, you got legitimate protesters there and then you got some serious provocation of the police. Two people shot in crowd on crowd violence, a very dangerous night. What did you see?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, what we saw early on, which I thought was interesting at one point, Christine, was the police line make its way down the line where the protests are turning violent. They are relying on some of the religious leaders, community leaders to try to make peace.

We saw throughout the early part of the evening, a number of men with bull horns trying to calm down the situation. It was clear, as things progressed, they could only kind of keep the peace so long. And eventually, things unraveled quickly, once again, just like last night, 31 people arrested, two people wounded and the captain here of the Missouri state police says he's urging these people who want to come out and protest, demonstrate to do that during daylight hours in hopes we will stop seeing these things unravel at night.

And Captain Ron Johnson spoke with us awhile ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPTAIN RON JOHNSON, MISSOURI HIGHWAY PATROL: Today, some of those officers walked by me because they are hurt. They are ashamed that we stood there. I'm telling you, we are going to make this neighborhood whole. We are going to make this community whole. We are going to do it together. And I am not going to let the criminals that come out here from across the country or live in this community, define this neighborhood and define what we're going to do to make it right. Have a great day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And we were out there with my colleague, CNN producer Steve Kastenbaum.

Steve, I thought one of the things that was significant today that we talked about in the beginning was they tried to rely on some of those community leaders out there to make peace. Did you see a lot of that as well?

STEVE KASTENBAUM, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, we saw a lot of that. In fact, we were truck when we first arrived at how different it was earlier -- well, tonight, several hours ago, than the previous evening. It was very subdued. They did not allow vehicles in. Everybody had to walk in on foot.

And it was orderly. People were expressing opinions freely. They were not impeded from doing so. And there were a significant number of community members who were sort of acting as police within the crowd. They were policing the protesters themselves.

And it was a very orderly scene. We thought oh, tonight is going to be different because this does not look like anything we saw over the last couple nights. But then, suddenly, we had that moment where there were some people within that crowd of protesters that were intent on facing off with police, it seemed.

LAVANDERA: The other thing I saw, this is where the rub is, the police makes its way into the crowd. What I saw was, I thought authorities specifically targeting various people that you could -- I thought you could tell they had been looking at for awhile. I think there were four or five people in my immediate vicinity that the team would move in quickly, identify a person, yank them out and then they would retreat.

KASTENBAUM: In fact, from our vantage point, we actually saw a young man who was easy to identify, his shirt off, had lots of tattoos, he threw a bottle at police. It was a glass bottle, we heard it break. And then he just stood there with his hands up like this, didn't resist arrest, the -- a number of police officers in riot gear. I presume they have these teams are planning ahead of time. They are going to go out and make targeted arrests. They came up on the man, took him in custody, put handcuffs on him and brought him into their area and into their vehicles without firing any tear gas or any rubber bullets or anything like that.

So, the police were showing restraint. They did not go after the crowd when they saw that local community leaders were self-policing it. It wasn't until later in the night, when we got further down the avenue, you and I were down there, where there were some people who were just intent on defying whatever orders police were giving. And that's where some of these civilians were shot.

We were there --

LAVANDERA: Let me show. Yes, this is now the video you are seeing is where that happened. Initially, that confrontation that was going on was at the southern end of the street. We moved down on the northern end, up to the northern end of the street and saw someone trying to set a restaurant on fire. We saw fire barricades that were put along Canfield, the road where Michael Brown was shot. In those armored vehicles.

This is where it becomes an even more treacherous, as we now moving off into darker streets.

KASTENBAUM: Right.

LAVANDERA: I saw a group of 15 people scattering in throughout the neighborhood. That was volatile situation.

KASTENBAUM: This is -- that's the point when the crowd scattered, when these several dozen protesters, mostly young people scattered down the side streets, we were there shooting video of this and that's where we heard the gunshots coming from the side streets, very clearly gunshots. Multiple shots fired, very rapidly, coming from one side street. We all duck cover. The police took cover behind their vehicles.

And minutes later, on Canfield, the site where Michael Brown lost his life, again we heard gun shots coming from the side streets, in the same area where the protesters had ran down, where they had scattered. It was not coming from police. It was coming from where protesters had run.

LAVANDERA: At that point, Christine, that's when they moved the news media out. In fact, to this area, which is the command post that you see behind me. And so, again, once again, you see several thousand people coming out,

demonstrating the way they want to demonstrate in a nice, calm way. Once again, in a matter of minutes, it seems like things just quickly deteriorated -- Christine.

ROMANS: Captain Ron Johnson saying there were media, from media organizations who are finding themselves sort of trapped in the crowd and police were having to kind of help them navigate through this crowd that was turning quite violent.

What is your sense of whether -- how much of this is legitimate protesting? How much of this is after dark, trying to provoke the police?

LAVANDERA: I'll -- you know, Steve -- I'll give what I saw. The altercations I saw, I thought it was clearly people who -- and I say this because you have a group of people trying to calm people down. They just weren't having any part of it. You couldn't reason with these people.

KASTENBAUM: Right.

LAVANDERA: I watched it all night long. So, I thought it was people trying to provoke some sort of response.

KASTENBAUM: And one of the things that we did notice when we were early on in the confrontation between police and protesters, I spotted in the crowd some people who were wearing t-shirts with organization names on them, one of them an organization calling for a people's revolution.

It's clear that these people, I recognize some of these logos from when we covered Occupy Wall Street, believe it or not. People who have come from outside the area because this is where it's happening, this is where the cameras are, I presume, and they want to get their message out.

These are folks who are intent. And we saw three or four of them very early on, would not listen to those church leaders and community leaders telling everybody to get on the sidewalks and back up. There were three or four gentlemen were holding up their signs, going face- to-face with police and getting closer and closer them.

And those individuals, some of them, I recognize the shirts. They had slogans about a revolution taking place now. I presume those were outside agitators that Captain Johnson was talking about.

LAVANDERA: You know, Christine, the rule tonight, going into the evening, it worked for several hours, is that police basically told the crowd that you just couldn't stand on a corner. You couldn't just loiter around. You had to keep moving.

And so, what you saw for most of the evening was during a quarter mile stretch, people basically walking up and down the street, chanting. In fact, I saw some young kids who brought 20 dozen roses, and they were handing roses out to people. And as long as the crowd kept moving in that circular fashion, there

was no response from the police. It was at the moment that everyone kind of congregated in the middle of the street and started pushing forward again where we saw the repetition from last night.

KASTENBAUM: And one of the things we also saw there, Christine, was there's some people who have been coming out who live on the side streets, in the more residential section who have been out there night after night after night, and they have been making food, barbecuing for the protesters for free, giving out food as a family.

We had the opportunity to speak with them. We asked them about how they feel about this tonight? And they said, this is the way it should have been. It should been respectful of our community. We're tired of people coming in and disrespecting our community.

This is supposed to be about Michael Brown, and what happened to this young man, this member of our community was shot and killed by police. This isn't supposed to be about a party. They said it's us.

They saw people wanting to come into their community night after night, and as they describe it to us, the partying is not what it is about.

LAVANDERA: You know, I was with -- to follow up on that point, Christine, I was with Captain Johnson at one point in the evening, he came across the police line, and was trying to talk to a group of people about this very thing as he was being shouted at about police tactics and this sort of thing.

And one of the points he was trying to make with people out there becoming much more agitated was the idea you are on a strip of road, you have several dozen businesses that have been shut down for more than a week, really kind of struggling to keep things together. And he was making the point, I don't know if this got through, but he was making the point, you have basically shut down this entire area. And when all this settles down, he's saying, why would any business want to come back to this stretch of road? You are hurting yourselves.

You could just see the frustration in Captain Johnson's eyes as he was trying to make this point. And it just -- he didn't seem to get anywhere.

KASTENBAUM: Yes. And the thing is -- this was the most emotional we have seen Captain Johnson throughout all of this. He displayed an incredible amount of emotion at tonight's -- this morning's news conference. And he's clearly tried a number of different tactics, different levels of force. There were days the police were non- entity, they weren't even here and the community was policing themselves.

So, it runs the gamut. It hasn't always been hands on.

LAVANDERA: And, Christine, I think -- to finish up here, I think this is one of the things, I heard a couple people talking about it tonight, perhaps there needs to be, people are going to -- I think Captain Johnson asked them to protest during the day. But I also heard people talk about the idea of putting in a moratorium and urging people not to demonstrate, even peacefully and organized the way it was earlier in the evening, that perhaps if they can of shut it down all together, the point has been made and, you know, let's move on and fight the next battle, if you will. I heard that from several people today.

ROMANS: Yes, a lot of frustration that basically people so angry about the shooting of Michael Brown, they are burning down their own house. That's so counterproductive.

The other part of the story is every night of violence takes the story line away from Michael Brown and on to the crowds and the lawlessness of the crowds, which defeats the purpose of the legitimate protesters. So, very, very frustrating.

Guys, thank you so much for your reporting tonight. I know it's been a long night. I know it started peacefully and then got really hairy. Thank you. We'll check in with you again very shortly. Good work, guys.

And, of course, we're going to be following the developments from Ferguson all morning long.

We are following the streets looking like a war zone. Two people shot in crowd on crowd violence. A deadly police shooting 10 days ago creating so much drama between protesters and law enforcement. Attorney General Eric Holder arriving in the area tomorrow.

The dramatic video we are going to show to you overnight, ahead.

Plus, a temporary truce about to end in Gaza. Can Israel and Hamas reach any longer lasting deal to stop the violence? We are live after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Eighteen minutes past the hour.

Turning now to Iraq and a major step forward for Kurdish and Iraqi forces fighting ISIS for control of this critically important Mosul dam. They were able to gain control of the dam with the help of U.S. airstrikes. But the battle is not over yet.

CNN's Anna Coren following development. She joins us on the phone from Mosul.

A lot of progress in the last 24 hours, Anna, but more work to do?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yes, absolutely, Christine. As you say, a major victory, but the battle is still raging.

We're currently in an armored vehicle with the Peshmerga special forces heading towards Mosul dam. It's the first time they have been allowed to enter the complex. We believe that all the ISIS militants have retreated from that dam complex, but there is still fighting going on around the area to try and secure what they need.

So, while the Peshmerga have claimed it, they need to maintain or retain control, really. There's a lot of problems with explosives. ISIS militants have left IEDs, and land mines all around the complex. There's also the risk of snipers, which is why we're traveling in an armored vehicle.

But, you know Mosul dam, yes, they have control of it. But Mosul City, which is Iraq's second largest city with a population of 1.5 million people, militants have full control of that.

So, they have retreated. They will be regrouping and they'll be consolidating. Whether there are thousands of ISIS militants there, we just don't have that intelligence at this stage. But there's been very good chance that they could launch a counteroffensive.

Obviously, the U.S. airstrikes were critical in this battle against ISIS, 35 strikes in 72 hours, hitting 90 targets. Vehicle equipment and the fighting conditions of ISIS really changing the situation on the ground for the Kurdish forces, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Anna Coren, thanks for that. She's live in an armored Humvee on her way to the Mosul dam that has been retaken from ISIS. Thanks, Anna.

All right. Israel and Hamas agreeing to extend their cease-fire for another 24 hours to allow more time for negotiators in Cairo and to hammer out a longer term peace plan. After more than a week of calm, neither side seems to be interested in resumption of fighting, nor are the people who live in both of those countries.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is live for us in Gaza.

So, the peace holds for now, Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNNCORRESPONDENT: Yes, for now, but it is somewhat of a disappointment, Christine. Certainly, a lot of people here on the ground in Gaza, and as you said, a lot of Israel were looking for something more longer term.

And there was a lot of confusion last night as that deadline loomed. At the beginning, there were talks of a cease-fire agreement, a longer term one already having been signed, then all of a sudden, the Israeli side put the brakes on all that and said nothing had been signed. Then, it seems the sort of talks were falling apart. And in the end, you had that 24-hour extension which really isn't anything that would make anybody here on the ground very happy.

However, of course, the good thing about is, that the fighting is not resuming. There was one senior Hamas official who came out and said that, in effect, nothing had been achieved so far. He said the two sides were still very far apart. And that every single minute of this 24-hour period that started at midnight last night Gaza time, that every single minute would have to be used to try and hammer out some sort of agreement, because a lot of underlying issues remain unresolved. The status of the border crossing, between Gaza and Israel, more and more goods would be allowed in. More people be allowed to go in and out. Israel, of course, has a lot of security concerns with that. Benjamin Netanyahu came out last night and said that there would be no deal that does not fully take into consideration all of Israel's security concerns.

So, at this point in time, the good thing is that both sides are still talking. The good thing is both sides have given themselves more time because they appear to walk some sort of agreement. But the fact is it's only 24 hours. They are far apart.

Of course, a lot of people here, especially in Gaza are getting very, very anxious hoping the bombing does not resume because there are, Christine, a lot of people who have lost a lot. Their houses have been destroyed, a lot of people have been killed as well. At this point, rebuilding effort cannot start as long as the situation remains in limbo the way it is.

It's going to be a very, very interesting day and very interesting time to observe what happens with the talks in Cairo, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Fred Pleitgen for us in Gaza -- thanks, Fred.

We are following the breaking news out of Ferguson, Missouri, and another night of violence in the streets between protesters and law enforcement. The controversy over the police shooting 10 days ago of a teenager, Michael Brown. That controversy, the latest on that, ahead.

Plus, Ukraine becoming a battle field. Residents caught in the middle of fighting between the military and pro-Russian separatists. Is there any peace in sight for the people in Ukraine? We are live right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Russia's foreign minister say there's been no progress in talks between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian military claims rebel forces killed dozens of refugees in an attack on a civilian car caravan. The rebels deny any attack took place at all.

CNN's Will Ripley live in Kiev with the latest -- Will.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, the Ukrainian military says there's nearly continuous fighting in the area where that convoy came under attack, as we first told you as breaking right here on this program yesterday. So, they haven't been able to get close enough to find out exactly how many people were killed. But as you said, they estimate the number to be substantial, possibly in the dozens, including women and children.

Meanwhile, the military assault continues. Ten battles reported overnight, there's street fighting and the military is now having a problem to contend with. They are finding mines that they're having to disable that are making it a more dangerous situation not only for the soldiers and but also the civilians who are still leaving in the rebel-held stronghold of Donetsk and Luhansk.

The cease-fire talks will continue. And just to give you an indication of how seriously the world is taking this, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, her spokesperson announced that she'll be coming to Kiev on Saturday to talk to officials here and try to find a way to diffuse the crisis before it gets worse -- Christine.

ROMANS: Will Ripley for us in Kiev -- thanks, Will.

We are following breaking news out of Ferguson, Missouri right now. Violence in the streets overnight between protesters and law enforcement. This controversy over the deadly police shooting of Michael Brown, far from over. What's next in the case? And what's next for the residents of this Missouri town caught in the middle of all of it? Right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)