Thursday’s CBS Mornings was live on the scene as California Highway Patrol was busting the anti-Semitic/pro-Hamas encampment at UCLA. But from the get-go, the network seemed intent on hinting that at any moment police would turn their guns on the students and UCLA would become the next Kent State massacre.
Before they even started the show, their opening tease (teed up by co-anchor Nate Burleson) highlighted a student who claimed, without evidence, that the university wanted them dead:
BURLESON: Breaking overnight, police swarm demonstrators at UCLA a day after their encampment was attacked by counter-protesters.
PRO-HAMAS PROTESTER: The aggression that we faced shows that the university has no choice to just stand by and wait for us to get killed by Zionist aggressors.
Seemingly ill-prepared to go to their live shots of correspondent Carter Evans, who at the scene, the network sloppily had their in-studio fill-in anchors try to report on what they were seeing live. Vladimir Duthiers noted: “Police fired what appear to be nonlethal rounds at some of the protesters. That was the pop, pop, pop that you just heard there.”
His tone turned to what seemed like panic he seemed to suggest the highway patrol had switched to real guns. “As again, this is live pictures coming into the newsroom right now where you see looks like hundreds of police officers in full riot gear now holding up weapons at those protesters!” he exclaimed.
But they didn’t.
Following the video portion of Evans’ report, co-anchors Burleson, Duthiers, and Jericka Duncan bloviated about the profound nature of what they were witnessing. “Again, Americans haven't seen scenes like this since the 1960s when college campuses erupted over protests in Vietnam. And now we're seeing this again play out on college campuses all across the country,” Duthiers suggested, inching toward a Kent State parallel.
It was Duncan who hinted the strongest that they could see students get killed soon:
DUTHIERS: They seem to be inching inch by inch to try to move these protesters off, but it's going to be very, very difficult. And of course the fear is that somebody gets hurts.
BURLESON: Yeah. No doubt about it.
DUNCAN: Or even worse.
Burleson built off of Duncan by suggesting it was a real fear among the pro-Hamas mob. “And when you look at the protesters, some are speaking and saying that ‘we are protesting peacefully, and we are looking for support from the police.’ And then others are saying that the police are not offering that, they are actually doing the opposite,” he said.
Duthiers did note that there was also a danger to officers from “outside agitators” and concluded with: “So, it becomes really, really difficult and, of course, the danger, as you see this police officer trying to tear down a barricade that presumably protesters put up, the danger is that somebody gets hurt.”
Over 130 people were reportedly arrested and no one was seriously injured, let alone killed.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CBS Mornings
May 2, 2024
7:00:22 a.m. Eastern [Opening tease](…)
NATE BURLESON: Breaking overnight, police swarm demonstrators at UCLA a day after their encampment was attacked by counter-protesters.
PRO-HAMAS PROTESTER: The aggression that we faced shows that the university has no choice to just stand by and wait for us to get killed by Zionist aggressors.
(…)
7:02:16 a.m. Eastern
[Live video of the chaos at UCLA without voiceovers]
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS: Again, we just want to reiterate, this just happened minutes ago. Police fired what appear to be nonlethal rounds at some of the protesters. That was the pop, pop, pop that you just heard there. Those folks were sheltering behind a barricade.
As again, this is live pictures coming into the newsroom right now where you see looks like hundreds of police officers in full riot gear now holding up weapons at those protesters!
(…)
7:06:19 a.m. Eastern
DUTHIERS: These pictures are remarkable coming into us right now, into the newsroom. When you see what looks like dozens if not perhaps hundreds of police officers in full riot gear, and they're trying to get in to clear this encampment. Again, Americans haven't seen scenes like this since the 1960s when college campuses erupted over protests in Vietnam. And now we're seeing this again play out on college campuses all across the country.
It looks like now the police are actually moving toward those barricades that protesters have set up. You can see those pieces of plywood that they -- protesters are using to try and force the police back. They seem to be inching inch by inch to try to move these protesters off, but it's going to be very, very difficult. And of course the fear is that somebody gets hurts.
BURLESON: Yeah. No doubt about it.
JERICKA DUNCAN: Or even worse.
BURLESON: And when you look at the protesters, some are speaking and saying that “we are protesting peacefully, and we are looking for support from the police.” And then others are saying that the police are not offering that, they are actually doing the opposite.
DUTHIERS: The difficulty, of course, is that when you hear police officials – and we heard that yesterday from New York City Mayor Adams – that there are outside agitators who are taking part in some of these demonstrations, it's difficult for police to know who the outside agitators are. Look -- it's dark, there are lights, there are teargas --
BURLESON: Most people are covered.
DUTHIERS: Being deployed – Exactly. People have their faces covered. So, it becomes really, really difficult and, of course, the danger, as you see this police officer trying to tear down a barricade that a presumably protesters put up, the danger is that somebody gets hurt.
(…)
