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Connect the World
Chinese Activist Xu Zhiyong On Trial; U.S., Syria Verbally Spar On Opening Day at Geneva Peace Talks; President Hollande's Complicated Domestic Life; Syria Peace Conference; Violence Escalates in Ukraine; Deadly Day in Kiev; Nicolas Anelka Controversy; Parting Shots
Aired January 22, 2014 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: And tonight bitter accusations as Syrian peace talks open in Switzerland with rival parties at loggerheads over the role of this man, Bashar al-Assad in Syria's future. Tonight, we ask what these talks can realistically achieve.
Also this hour, four dead in Ukraine as violence escalates there. I'll speak to one of the country's opposition leaders about what the protesters are planning next.
And...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The United States has embarked on a mission to kill its way to victory. And we are all sort of whistling past the graveyard.
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ANDERSON: The director of the Oscar nominated documentary Dirty Wars coming up.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN London, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson.
ANDERSON: And a very good evening to you. Three years of brutal fighting, more than 100,000 killed and millions displaced from their homes. But now a chance, a slim chance to be fair, but a chance at least to try to find a peaceful end to the Syrian civil war.
Well, earlier today representatives of more than 30 countries join delegations from the Syrian government and the opposition in this hotel room in the Swiss city of Montreux.
The one day gathering was meant to set the scene for face-to-face talks later this week between the two warring sides, but clear divisions were on displace within minutes of the talks beginning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALID MOALLEM, SYRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: You have spoke for 25 minutes. At least I need to speak as...
BAN KI-MOON, UN SECRETARY-GENERAL: ...remarks accusing some member states participating here. So, which will not be constructive at this time.
MOALLEM: It is constructive. I promise you to be constructive. Let me finish my speech.
KI-MOON: Within two or three minutes. Please, please sir.
MOALLEM: OK.
KI-MOON: Two or three minutes. And I'll give you another opportunity, OK?
MOALLEM: Another 20 minutes, no?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Such a bitter start of what going to be a very long process as not surprising.
It became clear after the talks wrapped up that the different parties are also sticking to their positions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Today, people can more clearly understand how alone Assad is in standing up for himself, not for Syria. And the resolution to this crisis cannot be about one man's insistence or one family's insistence about clinging to power/. This needs to be about empowering all of the Syrian people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: We also got some indication as to what the organizers at this meeting hope the talks can result in. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KI-MOON: Establish and declare a cessation of violence all throughout the country, if not even the localized cessation of violence will be helpful. And I'm urging Syrian government as a confidence building measure, as a way of showing their sincerity, release detainees. That will also help the conciliatory process that will help create a favorable atmosphere when they sit down together with opposition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Let's bring in Nic Robertson who is standing by for you in Montreux near Geneva.
A lot of posturing we saw today. How can those who are effectively running this gig get the warring sides working together, Nic?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's very interesting listening to what Secretary of State John Kerry had to say. He said that he wasn't surprised what he heard from the Syrian government, that it's an opening position. And he said opening positions are opening positions. Let's see which direction they go in. The Syrian government has said that it is operating to fulfill the terms of the Geneva I accord a year-and-a-half ago not only to find a transitional government, but also to bring security and stability to Syria.
So what you've got here on the one hand is the process continuing -- that's what everyone is happy about. You have the accepted fact that both sides are going to come out with very strong positions. And the hope that they're going to -- that as they discuss and talk, that their positions will become clearer.
John Kerry said it will over time become clear as their positions crystallize, people would be able to see what they stand for. The Syrian government has certainly indicated that this is a process that's going to go on for a long time. And that with time that they can discuss issues, of course they are putting dealing with security first.
But Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN representatives who is going to go into the room with these two sides on Friday morning, separately at first and then bring them together in the afternoon. It's his diplomacy that's really going to draw the gap smaller or push them apart if it doesn't work. And the hope is that over time he can draw them closer. But when you stand here where we are today, it looks like a big, big ask right now, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yeah. If anybody can do it, we know that Lakhdar Brahimi can do it. But what a long 48 hours we have ahead of us.
All right, Nic, thank you very much indeed.
Nic is in Montreux at those crucial talks.
While these peace talks in Switzerland continue, the daily tragedy of war leaves many Syrians scared. Lest we forget, this is all about the Syrian people. Atika went to the Zaatari camp in northern Jordan and tells the story of one young survivor whose emotional wounds are all too clear to see.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Safa (ph) is 6-years- old living in Zaatari for nearly a year now with her parents and five siblings, all girls. Her father admits he spoils his daughters, especially Safa (ph).
"She was very happy. She was active. She was very sociable and she used to play with each and everyone in the neighborhood," he tells us.
But now it's changed. She sits on the chair and she sees all of her siblings around playing, running around, but she can't do it.
The family had narrowly escaped a rocket attack that destroyed their home in Aleppo only to be hit in another attack outside Damascus last year. Her father describes how he tracked down his daughter in hospital.
"They asked me," are you the father? "I said yes. They then told me that five doctors saw her and tried to put the leg back. I insisted, no, it's only broken. They said no, it has been amputated. I didn't have any control over myself at that time."
At least 11,420 children have been killed in the Syrian civil war, more than 70 percent died in explosive attacks like the one that hit Safa (ph).
Safa (ph) comes here to a UNICEF play area in Zaatari, but today her friends are playing games not made for a girl in a wheel chair. Safa (ph) did not want to talk to us or anyone else, really. So we thought maybe there was another way to show us her world, a camera.
The first photos are predictably funny, then sweet as she snaps a photo of Marwa (ph), her identical twin, a walking and running mirror image of herself. She records video of the children that race around her. And she is not alone. Here in Zaatari, there are approximately 23,000 children. And in the last year, camp doctors treated 1,379 kids with weapons and war related injuries just like Safa (ph). This is their world.
But for her father, the anguish of seeing his daughter like this is heartbreaking.
"I started to curse Bashar al-Assad, his family, his children and his regime because he claims that he is defending the country by attacking with the armed forces," he tells us. "Well, my daughter was not affiliated with any armed forces and this is the proof. She's just a human being that lives in Syria. She's Syrian, a civilian, and now she's lost her leg because of this."
Anger, a sense of loss, and the realization that life will never be the same, especially with Safa (ph), but here at least the family is safe.
Atika Shubert, CNN, in the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: If you want to find out how you can help the refugees of Syria's civil war do use CNN.com/impact. We've posted a list of reputable relief agencies working to help the refugees at CNN.com/impact.
You're watching CNN. Still to come this evening, as one of China's most prominent activist goes on trial, we'll show you what happened to our reporter outside the courthouse.
All eyes are on the tiny Swiss town of Davos where many of the world's top statemen and CEOs are meeting. We'll get you a live report from the World Economic Forum this evening.
And it's been given an Oscar nod for best documentary. The film Dirty Wars follows investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill. We'll bring you the story he was chasing later in the show. That and much more, of course, when Connect the World continues. It's 10 past 8:00 in London. I'm Becky Anderson. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: All right, violence has escalated in the streets of Kiev where at least four demonstrators have died in police clashes. Dramatic scenes unfolded today as riot police confronted protesters. Four demonstrators were shot and killed with hundreds being treated for injuries.
Dozens of police officers have also been hospitalized. Demonstrators rallying opposition to a new law that seemingly is designed to limit protests.
We're going to get you a live report from Kiev coming up this hour here on Connect the World.
Israeli officials say that nation's security agency has arrested an al Qaeda operated terrorist cell, as they call it. That was planning several attacks, including a plot to bomb the U.S. embassy. Ben Wedeman has more. He's live for you tonight from Jerusalem.
Ben, what do we know?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have this from a statement from the Israeli prime minister's office, which claims that a man in Gaza through Facebook, through Skype recruited three men in Palestinian East Jerusalem. One of the men apparently had been sent files, computer files, instructing him how to put together explosives.
Now according to this statement, this man by the name of Eid Khalil Mohammed Abu Sara (ph) would have traveled from here to Turkey, from Turkey into rebel controlled northern Syria where he would have received military training. Then he would have returned back here where he would coordinate with jihadis who would enter he country with forged Russian passports.
Now according to this statement, they would have conducted suicide missions against the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, the convention center here in Jerusalem, which is really quite close to the CNN bureau. In addition to that, they would have attacked an Israeli bus on the West Bank.
Now this man -- three of these men were arrested on the 25th of December last year.
Now what is really disturbing in all of this is of course the Syria angle. Just yesterday, Becky, I spoke to an Israeli intelligence analyst who told me that as many as 10,000 foreign jihadis are currently operating in northern Syria. The worry is that that area is becoming basically terrorism U -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Fascinating. Thank you, Ben.
Human rights groups around the world are closely watching a trial that began today in China's capital Beijing. But the man who is being tried isn't saying anything at all.
Xu Zhiyong is accused of gathering a crowd to disturb public order by organizing protests against government corruption.
Well, the prominent activist refused to speak in court today in protest. He's the founder of the New Citizen's Movement. It was called on government officials and the wealthy elite to disclose their assets. He was detained in July following months of virtual house arrest.
Well, understandably Chinese authorities want to limit news coverage of Xu's trial as much as possible. This was the moment CNN's David McKenzie and his crew were roughed up and prevented from filming the courthouse. Here's more from David.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, we are heading towards a court in Beijing where prominent activist goes on trial today.
Why? This is a public space. There no need to shout at me.
The court is just behind us. The name of the activist is Xu Zhiyong. And the reason he's in trial is because he had a gathering of people several times and was one of the founders of the New Citizens Movement, that is why there are all these police surrounding me here.
We're going to go try look at the entrance of the court, which is just here...
Sorry, you can't stop me, this is a public place.
(voice-over): Soon, the situation violently escalated. Police and plain clothed men targeting us, taking away our phones and ID and breaking the camera.
(on camera): You can't physically -- they're physically manhandling us. They're physically manhandling me. This is a public space. I'm allowed to report. I'm allowed to report.
We are reporters. We are reporting in a public space.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, do not physically manhandle us.
(voice-over): Other international journalists were roughed up during the trial. One policeman told me they were following orders.
(on camera): They've moved us from the van into a police car.
(voice-over): A government spokesman said they will investigate the incident, but that without law and order there will be, quote, chaos in China.
(on camera): The police and the plain-clothes guys drove us to the street corner several blocks away from the court and then just dumped us on the side of the street. We would be shooting this with our camera, but they entirely tore off the front section of the viewfinder so Charlie can't use it at all.
This really shows how much China wants to manage the message. But in doing so, the irony is they betray some of the strong arm tactics they use against journalists, including us. And obviously it's often far worse for Chinese nationals.
David McKenzie, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, a prominent Thai political activist has been shot. Police say that Kwanchai Praipana, a local leader of the pro-government "red shirt" movement was wounded outside his home in northeast Thailand when unidentified people in a pickup truck opened fire.
His wounds are not life threatening.
The shooting comes a day after the government declared a state of emergency near amid massive violence plagued protests in Bangkok.
There's been a deadly day in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Officials say army troops killed 10 al Qaeda-linked militants. Three police officers were killed and six others were wounded in roadside bomb explosions. And Iraqi soldiers killed two gunmen who attacked an army checkpoint.
Mosul is about 400 kilometers north of Baghdad.
Well, it's a case making headlines in both -- I'm sorry, on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Mexican national Edgar Tamayo Arias is scheduled to die by lethal injection in Texas later today. But the Mexican government is trying to block the execution.
For more, let's cross to CNN's Nick Parker in Mexico City.
And they are trying to block this, as I understand, on the basis that Arias wasn't advised of his right to consular assistance when he was arrested. What more can you tell us, Nick?
NICK PARKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right, Becky. Tamayo was arrested originally in 1994 and later convicted of murdering a police officer who had arrested him on charges of robbery. And basically what the Mexican authorities here are saying is that during this time right after his arrest he was never offered access to consular assistance. And that access is something that is enshrined in a decades' old international treaty called the Vienna convention.
So the Mexican authorities are arguing that that was breached. And this also goes larger and bigger than Tayamo himself. In the 2004, international court of justice claimed that some 51 Mexican nationals in total were deprived of their right under this Vienna conventions. so we spoke to the Mexican foreign ministry and asked them what they made of this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's clear as -- it's clear cut. The point is they're breaching international law once again. They're breaching the precaution measures that were decided by the international court in 2008, not only the sentence. So it's a breach of international law. That's what is happening.
And every case had, without response and a solution on this point, and if our nationals don't have a review on their judicial processes will be a breach of international law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PARKER: Now, Becky, the foreign ministry say that even at this stage they're still hopeful that there may be some kind of reprieve or some kind of stay of execution. It seems unlikely at this stage. We received a statement from the governor of Texas, Rick Perry, just a few hours ago and it said it doesn't matter where you're from if you committed despicable crime like this in Texas you are subject to our state laws, including a fair trial by jury and the ultimate penalty -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Nick Parker in Mexico City for you, thanks Nick.
Coming up, the French President's private affairs will soon have to become public. We'll tell you why up next.
And fighting back, Nicolas Anelka says this gesture is not anti- Semetic. A day after he is charged by the English Football Association. So what is next for the soccer star?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, the French president says he is dealing with his personal affairs in private, but soon he'll need to go public on whether the first lady will join him on his state visit to the United States.
Well, Francois Hollande's relationship with his long-term partner was thrown into the spotlight this month after allegations emerged of an affair with an actress.
Jim Bittermann takes a closer look at France's very unique first family.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: If nations look to their presidents as role models, the French are being shown a very unique version of family values. Despite his constant refrain during the presidential campaign that he was going to be a normal president, Francois Hollande has never had a very conventional personal life.
News magazines like Paris Match have been tracking Hollande's private life for more than 10 years now, depicting how he and his first partner Segolene Royal (ph) who he met in university lived together for decades, raised four children together, never bothering to tie the knot.
When she ran for president in 2007, they seemed the ultimate power couple. The press gushed over their family life.
But there was a problem with that picture. Hollande would later admit that he was in fact carrying on an affair with one of the very Paris Match reporters who covered him, Valerie Treirweiler.
Just days after Royal lost the presidential election to Nicolas Sarkozy, she proclaimed that the supposedly happy Hollande-Royal couple was splitting up.
OLIVIER ROYANT, EDITOR, PARIS MATCH: They managed to position them selling the campaign as the opposite of the soap opera, the drama of the Sarkozy couple. So they were very lucky not to be more investigated during the campaign.
BITTERMANN: Trierweiler became a regular in Hollande's entourage even before he took her to the presidential palace to become the first lady he called her the woman of my life. But then perhaps a sign of troubled economy changed that, saying that she was the woman of my life today.
Then came last month's revelation that Hollande allegedly had been ducking out of the palace for trists with movie actress Julie Gayet who once endorsed Hollande in a campaign video and who was reportedly introduced to Hollande by none other than his ex-Segolene Royal.
The president has so far neither confirmed nor denied the alleged affair despite reported questions. And the first lady went into the hospital for depression and is now resting in a presidential residence in Versailles, home to French kings who have also had fairly messy personal lives.
What happens next is anyone's guest, although the president has promised to clarify the first lady's situation before he goes to Washington for a state visit next month.
How will the French president's private life play in the U.S.? A sociologist says Americans are far less tolerant of such things than the French.
ERIC FASSIN, FRENCH SOCIOLOGIST: In the U.S., there's much more social intolerance. The result, of course is not less adultery, but more scandals.
BITTERMANN: In fact, Hollande's claim that he would be a normal president may be true in one sense, these days more than half of French young people live together without benefit of a marriage vow or civil contract, just the way Hollande has always done.
What's more, a recent survey indicates that more than half of French men and nearly a third of French women have had affairs outside of their marriages or partnerships.
So, in France 2014, Francois Hollande's personal life may indeed represent the new normal.
Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Should the president's private life be off limits to the French public, indeed to all of us? Should France redefine the roll of first lady? Should there be one? What do you think about this and any of the other stories that we are covering tonight.
The team at Connect the World wants to know at Facebook.com/cnnconnect of course. You can have your say @BeckyCNN. You can tweet me @BeckyCNN. Do get in touch. I promise you, we read them all. We're fascinated by what you say. It is your show. We're just here for you.
The latest world news headlines just ahead.
Plus at least four dead in Ukraine as protesters defy the new ban on protests. We'll have the latest live from Kiev.
We'll also have the producer of the Oscar nominated documentary Dirty Wars. Find out what that film is all about.
We're going to take very short break at this point. Back at the bottom of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: Welcome back. Let's get to our top story tonight, a first day for the Syrian peace talks in Switzerland has wrapped up in a preliminary session. Syria's foreign minister accused rebels of committing atrocities after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry blamed the regime for brutal violence.
Direct talks between the Syrian government and opposition delegations are scheduled for Friday.
And we now speak to one of the Syrian president's closest advisers, Bouthaina Shaaban, who has sat those peace talks in Montreux. And we do thank you very much indeed for making time for us here on CNN this evening.
Do you agree this civil war has caused incalculable suffering for the Syrians -- Syrian people?
BOUTHAINA SHAABAN, SR. ADVISER TO PRESIDENT AL-ASSAD: Of course. The war has caused horrible suffering for the Syrian people. And I think that the question is why do these countries support terrorism in our country? Why do they finance, arm and facilitate these horrible (INAUDIBLE) extremist terrorists to kidnap and kill in our country? That's the question.
ANDERSON: The Syrian government's line is that this should be about ending terrorism in your country. Others will say that until you stop insisting that Bashar al-Assad play a role in politics going forward, you stand in the way of peace.
Why do you do that? Is that negotiable?
SHAABAN: No, why do they decide from the Western world that Bashar al-Assad stands in the way for peace? Do we have the right to decide that any Western leader is not good for his people? Or is it the people who's really who decide in every country who should be president? Isn't it be then through elections? I -- actually this is a horribly colonial attitude toward my country. And by the way, what has happened to my country is not against the regime. It's against the people. It's against institutions. It's against economies, against children. It's against women, it's against the way of life. It's the destruction of our identity.
ANDERSON: And there have been thousands of photographs, alleged photographs of torture victims taken out of Syria. You talk about those who are suffering, alleged victims who have suffered at the hands of the -- Bashar al-Assad's government. He could be held up at this stage for war crimes and sent to The Hague.
This is a man who most of the West -- hang on -- hang on for one second. This is a man who every other delegation at this meeting says must go if there is a possibility of peace going forward.
So I ask you again, is his political presence going forward negotiable or not?
SHAABAN: You know, I don't think it's even right to ask me this question at all. Isn't democracy about voting, about ballot box? I think what they should do is put a mechanism for elections, for ballot box and then let who other ones to win election win election. These alleged photographs you saw, you will discover in 2-3 months' time that these are part of the lies that have been circulated about Syria for the last three years. Remember the chemicals on the 21st of August 2013?
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: We do remember that, yes.
SHAABAN: (INAUDIBLE) the Syrian government now? Now, now verify the study from Massachusetts Institute, saying it was not the Syrian government who did this, it was these terrorists who did this. And they prove it . So at that time, Syria wasn't threatened of a military strike because of that allegation. There are thousands of lies circulated about Syria. And I can tell you, the objective is neither the president nor the government nor the regime.
The objective is --
ANDERSON: Let me ask you -- let me ask you --
SHAABAN: -- just let me finish. The objective is to destroy a secular moderate, beautiful example in the -- in the Arab world --
ANDERSON: Tell me --
SHAABAN: -- and Saudi Arabia as an example --
ANDERSON: Tell me, Bouthaina, who you think is then behind the destruction of Syria and also when you believe the last evidence of Bashar al-Assad running a democratic country was?
Two different questions there.
SHAABAN: You know, you know, why do you -- why do you have to interfere in what the Syrian people do? Put the mechanism for a political process after putting an end to this terrorism and then let the Syrian people decide for themselves.
That is -- that is --
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: (INAUDIBLE) are dead and many are displaced.
SHAABAN: You know, Syrian (INAUDIBLE) --
ANDERSON: (INAUDIBLE) for itself.
SHAABAN: Becky, I just want -- I just want to say this for record: Western countries will discover, Western people who are now supporting Wahabi terrorism will discover a year from now probably, two years from now, that we are fighting your enemy and you are supporting the enemy of humanity, not only the enemy of Syria because I am -- I am living in Syria. I am coming from Damascus. I am a mother. I am a woman. I know how women are having children butchered in front of their eyes, how a woman -- and I give you her name, Maisana Hala (ph), put a bomb to explode herself and her children because of the horrid prospect of the terrorists raping her and butchering her children in front of her.
ANDERSON: All right.
SHAABAN: Come to Syria --
ANDERSON: Which is why -- Bouthaina, let me just speak for one moment, because you've had your say and we do appreciate it, which is what brings you back to my very first question as we spoke this evening, why is it that the Syrian government is standing in the way of peace? If Bashar al-Assad committed to standing down from politics, peace would be a possibility surely going forward. And that is something surely that as a woman, as a mother and as a friend of the people of Syria, as a Syrian woman yourself, you must want peace going forward, don't you?
SHAABAN: All Syrian people want peace. Not only me, but it is not up to the people who have never been in Syria or up to the people who have been out of Syria for 30 years, who don't know at all what's happening on the ground to decide how peace can be made.
It is the Syrian people who are living through these horrid times who decide how peace can be made. We want peace. We want to build our country. We want to live together. Christians and Muslims and all ethnicities and all religions. We don't this Wahabi thinking that come and destroys churches and kills the Christians and assassinates people who are there, praying in the mosque.
That's what we don't want.
ANDERSON: Bouthaina, we appreciate your time. Please talk to us again and -- yes. Best of luck. Thank you.
SHAABAN: Thank you for taking us. Thank you. 'Bye. Bye-bye.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ANDERSON: It has been a deadly day on the streets of the Ukranian capital as demonstrators face off with riot police. At least four protesters are dead after clashes in Kiev. Demonstrators are rallying against a new law aimed at curbing protests. They paid tribute by singing the national anthem. This one protester's body was taken away earlier today before demonstrators who were killed were shot. (INAUDIBLE) another died in a fall from a monument. This is the latest violence is an escalation of months of mostly peaceful anti-government demands.
It began after Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych spurned a European Union trade deal, you'll remember. All four demonstrators have been killed as protesters rally against the new law, the legislation seemingly limiting the right to protest and freedom of speech. And as opposition leaders meet with the Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych, tensions remain high in the capital. Here's CNN's Diana Magnay.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This demonstration for the time being carried throughout more by noise than by violence but there have been clashes overnight, one protester was shot dead, a very serious escalation in the violence.
Fury at the turn this day has taken. "You have no right to kill him," this woman screams.
In the makeshift hospital, we learn that more have been killed.
MAGNAY: The doctors say that they had wounds to their chests, one of them shot directly in the head. We don't know yet what with; it could have been plastic bullets. The prime minister says that the riot police are not equipped with live ammunition.
MAGNAY (voice-over): But plastic bullets fired into crowds are clearly dangerous enough.
Even as these crowds are brave and push back, no matter the consequences for those unlucky enough to end up in police hands.
MAGNAY: Wearing all of our protective gear, not least because the protesters keep telling us that riot policemen don't care whether you're press or whether you're a protester. And we've seen evidence of that ourselves, video where a riot policeman pointed a gun directly into the camera and fired.
MAGNAY (voice-over): At least 200 injured on the police side also. But the anger against them and the government who have banned all protesting feels universal. Young and old brave the freezing cold, lending a hand to the makeshift barricades, the makeshift weapons.
MAGNAY: This line of fire burning tires has formed a very effective barricade between the protesters and the riot police who are lined up on the other side. They've been pushing these burning fires further and further up the road. And as you can see now, they're getting their missiles ready; stones, we've seen them preparing and making Molotov cocktails to throw through the smoke at police.
MAGNAY (voice-over): A battleground of the most primitive kind but still dangerous, still deadly nonetheless -- Diana Magnay, CNN, Kiev.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, opposition leader Vitali Klitschko says Ukranian protesters are set to go on the attack if Yanukovych doesn't offer concessions quickly. Klitschko joining me now for more on what is next.
When you have said today if tomorrow the president does not make a step forward, we will attack, what do you mean by that?
VITALI KLITSCHKO, UKRANIAN OPPOSITION LEADER: First of all, good evening to everybody.
People, we try to give the best to give the people quiet in Independence Square, here in Kiev. People were aggressive. They stay almost two miles and we have to tell it's peaceful demonstration is we stay and don't make activity.
But people right now don't want to stay in capital so they go. The demonstration was under control. It -- and people go in to the police and the whole walls -- these are the pictures -- when the battle between police and demonstration --
ANDERSON: Well --
KLITSCHKO: Today, people -- it's gone so many people around modern city, maybe 16,000-17,000 people stay in the main square. We try to keep quiet and today people want to fighting against again police. We tell for everyone, keep quiet; right now is the negotiation. We help with the discussion, with the president. Today's test run was --
ANDERSON: Yes, what did he say? What did he say?
KLITSCHKO: -- and we hope and -- we hope --
ANDERSON: What did the president tell you?
KLITSCHKO: -- for the (INAUDIBLE) -- the discussion with the president.
Nothing special. We talk really three hours about whole situation. But we need a decision. And what just one people here in the country who has absolute power and can take a decision. People want --
ANDERSON: OK. Let me stop you there, Vitali. Let me just stop you there, because we haven't got -- we haven't got very much time.
KLITSCHKO: -- only --
ANDERSON: So let me just -- let me just stop you there.
What is it that you want the president to say tomorrow? And if he doesn't say it, you have talked about going on the attack? What do you mean by that? What sort of attack are you planning?
KLITSCHKO: We are not planning real attack. Attack is mean is protest and we calling for strike, Ukranian strike. It's attack to people. It's a physical attack, there's no way we try to keep the control of the people. People are aggressive and want to physical attack to the police.
It's very important today we have a numbers around between five, some people told more than 10 people killed today by -- killed yesterday or today morning by barricades. And --
ANDERSON: OK.
KLITSCHKO: We have second round of discussion with the president. And first round depend a lot.
ANDERSON: All right. Well, we wait to see what he says Thursday and let's talk again for the time being, Vitali Klitschko in what is a very cold Kiev this evening.
The reporting this global investigation and the documentary on it that is now nominated for an Oscar. We'll have more on the film, "Dirty Wars," after this.
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ANDERSON: It's nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards in March, "Dirty Wars" is a film that follows one investigative reporter to Afghanistan, to Somalia and then to Yemen. This is the story that he was chasing.
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ANDERSON (voice-over): A series of deadly night raids across Afghanistan left many civilians dead and a trail of questions unanswered.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I didn't know what happened to my children, my daughter, my husband. They all died.
ANDERSON (voice-over): One journalist went in search of answers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): I knew Gardez wasn't an isolated incident.
ANDERSON (voice-over): The new film, "Dirty Wars," has all the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster, civilian deaths, allegations of a military cover-up and a mysterious secret source.
But it's a documentary. Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill says he had no idea what he was about to uncover.
JEREMY SCAHILL, PRODUCER, "DIRTY WARS": We came across a particularly gruesome night raid, where some pregnant women were killed and a senior Afghan police commander was killed. And the U.S. forces that did it tried to cover it up.
ANDERSON (voice-over): NATO later acknowledged that international forces were mistakenly searching for a Taliban insurgent in the compound. There were no insurgents at the compound. NATO admitted the international forces accidentally killed two armed men and three women in the night raid in Gardez.
NATO apologized to the families and provided compensation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The Americans used knives to dig the bullets out of their bodies.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Afghan investigators reported signs of tampering at the scene, although NATO denied any conclusive evidence linking it to its troops.
ANDERSON: Collateral damage --
SCAHILL: I hate that term.
ANDERSON: So do I.
SCAHILL: Yes.
ANDERSON: But I'm going to use it.
SCAHILL: OK.
(LAUGHTER)
ANDERSON: It's a term often used in war to justify killing innocent people. And perhaps that's the reason understandably that you don't like it.
How tough was it to persuade people this kind of killing is unjustifiable in what is known as a war on terror?
SCAHILL: I actually think we've reached a point in what they call the war on terror, where we are making more new enemies than we are killing actual terrorists. And I think we're making more new enemies because of innocent people being killed, but also because of the perception that the United States believes it has the right to assassinate people in any country of its choosing, regardless of what international law says or international norm.
ANDERSON (voice-over): The White House, the State Department and the Department of Defense all declined to comment, pointing towards President Obama's May 2013 speech at the National Defense University.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America's actions are legal. We were attacked on 9/11. Within a week, Congress overwhelmingly authorized the use of force. Under domestic law and international law, the United States is at war with Al Qaeda, the Taliban and their associated forces. My administration has worked vigorously to establish a framework that governs our use of force against terrorists, insisting upon clear guidelines, oversight and accountability that is now codified in presidential policy guidance that I signed yesterday.
SCAHILL (voice-over): One incident that I looked into in Afghanistan where an Afghan police commander and two pregnant women were killed, but the question I wanted to ask you is, in that kind of case, let's say that's true.
How would something like that be handled or investigated or reviewed?
If they go flying in and meet any kind of resistance at all, I mean, shots are fired, then I'm sorry if they got killed. But in a wrong place at the wrong time, and I don't think it ought be investigated. I think you write it off as one of the those being acts of war.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Scahill has been working with investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald and filmmaker Laura Poitras, who broke the Edward Snowden story on NSA surveillance of civilians and foreign governments. Together, they've got plans to launch a global media organization, funded by the billionaire eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.
SCAHILL: We believe that journalists should have an entirely adversarial relationship with those in power. And Pierre made very clear that he wanted to hire an army of topnotch lawyers to challenge the U.S. government's violations of freedom of the press and the privacy of ordinary Americans. And he doesn't want to just be able to fight against those government attacks. He wants to encourage a confrontation to call the question on this. And that's exactly the core mission of Glenn Greenwald's journalism and Laura's journalism and my journalism.
ANDERSON: If there were one message you want your viewers to take away from this documentary, what would it be?
SCAHILL: The United States has embarked on a mission to kill its way to victory. And we are all sort of whistling past the graveyard. If we don't wake up and realize that we are creating the circumstances for more terrorism with our actions, future generations are going to pay a very heavy price. I fear that there's going to be blowback for what we're doing right now around the world.
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ANDERSON: Fascinating. And on tomorrow night's show, we'll turn our attention to another Oscar-nominated film. We're going to hear from the screenwriter of "12 Years a Slave," which has been up, as you know, for Best Picture. Tune in to our interview with John Ridley on CONNECT THE WORLD tomorrow night.
Coming up after this short break, getting back to winning ways. Find out if Rafa Nadal survived this scare to reach the last four heats of the Open.
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ANDERSON: (INAUDIBLE) formally charged Nicolas Anelka for that controversial gesture that he made on the pitch. West Brom striker says he is not anti-Semitic nor is he racist and has asked for the charges to be removed.
For more on that, let's cross to Don Riddell, who is standing by at the CNN Center.
Don, what do we know in the details of this?
DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's a serious charge, Becky, one which, if found guilty, would bring Anelka a five-game ban or a minimum five-game ban. He has until Thursday tee time in the U.K. to respond to the charge. But it would seem that he's already unofficially responded by taking to his Facebook page and releasing a statement in which he outlines his defense, claiming that the expert the football association brought in to guide them on this isn't credible. Anelka said that this expert who made this guidance, referring to this gesture, according to ethnic origin race or religion, isn't credible because he's not French, hasn't lived in France and doesn't have an accurate knowledge of his actions.
Anelka also says that the representative council of Jewish institutions in France has explained the gesture which was popularized by a French comedian, isn't anti-Semitic and he has himself said that he is personally not anti-Semitic or racist. I guess we'll find out on Thursday, Becky, how he tends to -- how he intends to officially respond.
ANDERSON: Yes, no, it's an important story. Just before we go, quick one on tennis for me, as quick as you can.
RIDDELL: (INAUDIBLE) Roger Federer beat Andy Murray. He'll play Rafa Nadal in the semifinals of the Australian Open. That is the greatest rivalry in tennis and I can tell you that Federer is resurging. He had a miserable year last year, but some would say he's back to his best, certainly playing some great tennis right now.
ANDERSON: Lovely. Sorry, mate. It was just that I won't argue to see our parting shots. But and so should you.
(LAUGHTER)
ANDERSON: But I will never rush you again.
My dear fellow colleague there, Don Riddell, always a pleasure having him on.
And that is your sports right tonight, very expensive parting shot.
It's a scotch whisky, one that is sold for $628,000 in Hong Kong to a private collector. Sotheby's says the enormous six-liter bottle of Macallan M is the most expensive whisky ever sold at auction, beating another Macallan at $460,000 in New York in 2010.
So can a bottle of booze really be worth that much? Or is the cheap stuff just as good?
Well, I went to a whisky buyer in London to find out.
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ANDERSON: So, Patrick, what is the difference between whiskey with an E-Y and whisky with a Y?
PATRICK HOBBS, BOISDALE WHISKY BAR: Essentially, really, really simply, whisky without an E is Scottish whisky. The Japanese also copied this as well, because they call it the Scottish style of whisky. So they spell theirs without an E.
Irish whiskey with an E, American whiskey with an E.
ANDERSON: Right. So what makes a very good whisky?
HOBBS: It's going to be -- I mean in terms of expense, how much it costs, it's going to be on how much was made in the first place. If it was a long time ago, did they have the raw ingredients to make it? We've got one here and it's not the Macallan M that was recently auctioned, but it is a 1946 Macallan. And when you've got to think about something like this, it's the time when it was made, just after the war and very, very limited raw ingredients, so they didn't have a lot of the barley to actually make it with.
ANDERSON: Pour me one.
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HOBBS: Well, we're going to try these and I'll show you the difference between (INAUDIBLE).
So we've got a Glenmorangie 10 and a 25 there. So the youngest whisky here will be 10 years, OK, all from one distillery. And this one spends 10 years in a ex-bourbon barrel, curing away there. Then we're going to just move onto a 35-year that's. And you get a bit more richness to it.
ANDERSON: It's darker, this one, isn't it?
HOBBS: Yes.
ANDERSON: Darker.
(INAUDIBLE).
HOBBS: So again, a bit more fuller flavored, yes, a little bit more alcohol in there as well.
ANDERSON: That's as much as you get, viewers, because (INAUDIBLE) expensive from then on in.
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ANDERSON: (INAUDIBLE). I'm Becky Anderson. That was CONNECT THE WORLD. Thank you for watching.
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