talk to al jazeera, saturday, 5 eastern. only on al jazeera america. on "america tonight," frontline, iraqi. >> this woman we just met here told us that her home was destroyed a couple of days ago about drones. "america tonight" reports from inside the turmoil as hundreds of thousands flee a rapidly unravelling iraq. a view from on the ground and questions about what the u.s. can do to save iraq now. also tonight, no score for the u.s. team, but a victory of sorts. how they squeaked into the knock-out round to the world cup

and are bringing a new generation of soccer fans with them. and, four strings, simple, and sublime. >> such a is simple instrument to play. you know, it's affordable. it's portable, and people don't feel like they need to be a musician to play the instrument. ♪ >> tonight, an american treasurer and why you have never heard ukulele that sounds quite like this. ♪ good en. thanks for joining us. i am joie chen. we begin in iraqi where conflict is escalating as rebel fighters from the islamic state of iraq,

isil, solid fighted their grip on the northwest. 800,000 people with whole families on the run driven from their homes by violence and fear. in an exclusive report, america tonight's christoph, he has found divisions tearing the country apart have made it to iraq's northern refugee camps. >> reporter: we are driving along the highway leading out of mosul, iraq's second largest city overrun by the sunni rebel group, isil. the iraqi government has begun a campaign inside of mosul. hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled the city. many to refugee camps in the kurdish region. most of the camps, like the fighting, itself, are divided alongethnic and religious lines. >> reporter: why did you come from mosul? >> i told you because bombs, shoot bomb to places.

>> how many people in this whole camp? >> in camp? maybe 1,000. >> about a thousand? >> yeah. >> no one. >> why did you leave home? >> translator: there were airstrikes. >> that's why me and the other families left. >> can you show me what you brought with you? one under shirt and a pair of shoes. >> that's it. this is everything that you brought with you? >> yeah >> translator: we didn't even bring clothes with us. our house burned and collapsed from within. i have nobody to support me. i am living just by god's mercy. the army and isil are fighting amongst themselves, and we are caught in the middle. . >> this woman we just met here told us that her home was destroyed a couple of days ago by drones, and so she has fled here with her husband. small, little beds here on the

ground. the temperature in here must be about 110, 115 degrees. >> i don't even have any money to go and rent a house with my husband. we would be better off dead. there is nothing for us. where are we supposed to go? >> this family just arrived here from mosul. if you look in the backseat, they piled everybody in. as many kids as can fit. i am counting one, two, three, four, five, six. six people in the back seat. can you describe to me what are the conditions right now in mosul? >> translator: airstrikes at sunset and there was an airstrike on a village. >> how are the rebels treating people? >> i haven't seen them hurt anybody. >> reporter: an hour away at another camp, this one still under construction, mostly shiite refugees were arrive from mosul and carrying with them a very different story about the fighters who had taken over

their city. >> it was horrible. we have seen it before but never like this. there are bodies with their legs cut off. you couldn't save them. >> many of the men in this camp are iraqi army and police officers who proudly showed us their various ids and badges. much has been made about how he'sly isil has been able to take territory in iraq and the iraqi army and police have been criticized from walking away but these police officers insist it's been more complicated than that. >> we fought for five days and were able to hold them back. on the sixth day, at 9:00 p.m., the setback happened. they used a huge bomb to break through police lines and then our headquarters fell. and then the whole operation was over. >> translator: we couldn't resist them. they had sophisticated weapons and lots of fighters. >> the iraqi military has been criticized for throwing down their uniforms and running and

not fighting. tran when we saw the iraqi army withdraw, we had no more morale left. we didn't have munitions to fight. we were dead either way. why wouldn't we flee? we left mosul and i was in my military uniform. i called my family and picked up my wife and kids from the street. i put on civilian clothes and we came here. my money is gone. my wife's gold is gone. i only brought my family. >> that's it. >> these men have good reason to fear for theirs lives. isil has posted various videos online on sunni rebels chasing down people trying to flee the city, hitting their cars with a barrage of gunfire until they crash on the side of the road. they have carried out mass executions. iraqi military and police. >> reporter: what would have happened if isil had found you with these? >> translator: they will cut my head off and my family's heads.

>> reporter: inside the officer's tent, we found his wife sitting loop in the corner, staring into space and barely able to speak. you look like you are still in shock, like very nervous and scared. >> translator: yes. what can we do? >> reporter: can you describe to me what you saw? >> translator: they have long hair and long beards. >> reporter: how many of them were there? >> translator: either... >> reporter: as we were leaving the shiite camp, we had word that isil had attacked another camp. we passed car after car packed with people and the few belongings they had managed to gather in a panic. this time, those fleeing were christian. their destination, a church

youth center in the capital, erbil. >> a few hours ago, you had no idea? >> no idea. all of these people coming here. >> can you describe to me why did you leave? >> from my children and my wife is afraid. this is the reason. >> reporter: how concerned are you right now? >> i understand that isil is al-qaeda and we don't want to see this in iraq. we hear they did bad things in mosul. we heard about their practices. for example, the way they treat women. they don't belong here. >> it's too difficult for us.

what are we and these kids guilty of? what did we do? why is this the life of iraqis? >> reporter: are you hopeful that there will be peace in iraq? >> translator: yes, we are praying to the virgin mary that peace will come to iraq. not only for us but to all of iraq for muslims and christians. this is all we ask for. >> reporter: cris -- chritoff iszel. >> from ramadi south towards backdad, rebels are waging a bold campaign to seize key military assets. the prime minister will yield calls for a more inclusive government seem to be fading. >> reporter: more fighting and more violence across iraq. iraq's government released these pictures claiming they prove

that iraqi military are now in control of the bajai oil refinery, the country's largest >> translator: we rep pelled an attack and we killed all of the militants who approached the perimeter. it has turned into a graveyard for the coward militants. >> that might be wishful thinking. there are continuing reports of fighting there. even as rebels, including battle-hardened isil fighters and sunni trinesmen and othebes continue to take more territory. militants are now reported to control the strategic damn at al hadihta raising fears they could open the flood gates. iraq's military is battling to maintain control of iraq's most important air base. it was a strategic american out post home to transport helicopters, small planes,

armored vehicles and weaponry. if it falls to the rebels, they will for the first time have air power. iraqts government insists its military is now up to the fight. but more border areas and gas fields are now in rebel hands. the u.n. says that even a sectarian killings have increased, isil and its allies appear to have been stopped on the road to baghdad. >> on the victory fronts, we believe that the advancement of isil towards baghdad is stalled. at this point, the city is well saturated with iraqi security forces. >> that knew confidence may be why prime minister nouri al-malaki has made clear he will ignore u.s. pleas to form a specialounty government in an attempt to satisfy sunni tribes now allies to isil. >> it is not a secret to iraqis grave intentions are harboard hind the call for a scald government of national

salvation. it's an attempt to end our young democracy and to ignore the voters. it would torpedo the constitution and the political process. >> reporter: this as a leader of this powerful shia militia issued a challenge to fellow shiite, the prime primary. >> i call upon the iraqi government to fulfill the legitimate demands of moderate sunnis who suffer exclusion and marginalization and speed up the formation of a national government with new faces, including all iraqis. >> reporter: >> america tonight, sheila mcviccer joins us. we have been hearing from the international community. this emphasis on a unified government going forward and it did seem at first mr. al-malaki was at least open to that suggest? >> at least making some noises along that direction. what we are hearing from him now is he has called the parliament into session, and he is the prime minister elect with the largest single number of seats of any political party sitting in that parliament.

is it basically, um, i don't feel the need really to reach out and be more inclusive. over the courts of his two terms, iraq has become more of a sectarian state. he has not done the things he said that he would do to bring more sunnis into the military for example. in fact, eats excluded them. he stopped paying them. >> i don't understand this. i mean with isil making so many gains territorially, wouldn't you think that with that kind of pressure and with everyone saying the way forward here is to pry the sunni tribes and others who are currently allied with isil away from them? if he is not willing to do that now, one of the paths of analysis that that leads you to is the thought that he has a signal from tehran that they've got his back and that he does not feel the need to broaden his could al list in order to be able to survive as prime minister in an increasely sectarian iraq. >> there is concern about the spread of this regionally after all, isil is not thinking about

iraq. >> isil's base of operations, rear base, if you will, is in syria. up until recent weeks, bashar al assad was basically leaving them alone. >> that's changed with reports of airstrikes in recent days on isil bases in syria. there was a little bit of consternation earlier today where it appeared that nouri al-malaki had said that the syrian air force had actually struck inside iraq. that was a miss translation. they had struck at isil inside syr syria. ebb so al al-malaki made clear he approved of those strikes and that he and basharassad are fighting the same fight. >> director in iraq for the world food program with us from erbil. appreciate your being with us. can you give us a flavor for what you are seeing, what you and other aid agencies are

seeing on the ground in erbil now? >> thank you very much. what we are seeing are enormous numbers of people who are in need of humanitarian assistance. some of them are in transit camps and in other camps. other people are sheltering in host communities and in other public areas. in the government of ninevah, we are hearing reports of people who are in mosques and who are in schools and in other public buildings in need of assistance. >> are you finding support in that? is this an international level of support that you are seeing so far? >> this is a very big operation here we have all of the major u.n. agencies here we have a lot of international charities such as asted and oxfam on the ground. we are also working with local charities as well and all binding together with the local government to provide the assistance that's needed when it's needed and where it's needed. >> and we are hearing that at

least on the ground, folks are telling our correspondent that they feel that erbil is relatively secure. so there seems to be this influx toward you there. it does seem, though, that you are looking from his reporting quite well prepared. the aid agencies have establishedthems pretty quickly and pretty well there. >> i think there has been a lot of work that has been done by the international community over the recent past to make sure that we are prepared to respond to the needs of people very quickly. there are always preparedness measures that are done. we do analysis before the fact and we pre-position stocks so that we are able to provide assistance very quickly. we have also been able to benefit from the fact that there are a number of syrian refugees in this area and so we have been able to learn lessons from the people working on that operation and apply this to this new crisis. at times, we have been able to borrow stocks from them.

for example, wp, the world food program, has borrowed some food rations from our colleagues in syria in order to meet the needs of the people very quickly. >> just a last thought here as your folks have been talking to the refugees coming in, seeking shelter there, what is the word that you are hearing from them? one of the things our correspondent heard is that these focus feel, look. the army is fighting with isil and we are just the people caught in the middle. what are your folks hearing there? >> we are hearing exactly the same thing. i spent about 30 minutes in a camp just a few days ago talking to people recently arrived from mosul. and that's really, they are just people who are caught up in a very, very unpleasant situation. they have been forced to leave their homes. they have been forced to leave their families behind, their possessions. we have the onset of ramadan and all they want to do is have a peaceful ramadan with their

families and a peaceful future for their children. and that's a challenge for all of us right now. >> jane pierce from the world food program, we appreciate you being with us. >> thank you very much for having me. ♪. >> after the break on "america tonight" when losing that's a win anyway. the u.s. team moves on to the knockout round. the fans go wild. what's ahead for team u.s.a. in our next segment. later, venzuela divided. prices keeping food out of reach. desperation and fighting in the streets. >> we have just seen tear gas being thrown. it looks like police have showed up. >> sebastian walkers explains how resign venzuela has spun so badly out of control. ♪

>> al jazeera america presents the system with joe berlinger >> new york city has stop and frisk >> some say these laws help serve and protect... >> we created the atmosphere that the policeman's the bad guy... >> others say these tactics are racist >> discrimination is wrong >> 99 percent of those arrested in drug free school zones... we're not near a school at all! >> are they working? >> this time i'm gonna fight it. >> the system with joe burlinger only on al jazeera america

♪ if you are a newcomer to the world cup, it is a puzzle. the upshot is this: the u.s. team lost and then scored a victory. 800-plus miles away. how is that? the u.s. men's team left the pitch scoreless against the mighty germany, final 1 stonothing in a monsoon match. but seconds later, at the stadium in brazilia, portugal defeated ghana 2 to 1. in the math calculations of the world cup, that allows the u.s. to advance from its group of death berth to a knockout rounds. >> it's a great accomplishment. a lot of people didn't think we would get out of the group but we believed in ourselves. now we are to the knockout stages. it's about going as far as you possibly can go and try to do something special. >> something special is historic because this is the first time the u.s. has ever advanced to

the knockout stage in two straight world cups. darrell thompson at "the atlantic," a fan of the game, himself. as you saw, americans pretty much went crazy today. >> they did. this is really exciting. as you said, it's completely historic. i am really excited for the u.s. i think it's wonderful we made the elimination round and even the president said his expectations are managed and the coach of the team said his expectations are managed. americans can be forgiven for not managing expectations. i think they are thinking we are going to go to the finals. >> acknowledging the excitement that american fans have, including the coach sending out a tweet with a get out of work today if everybody wanted to stay home and watch the game. so he's really seeing a lot of enthusiasm here, too. but does this mean -- are we at a point where soccer really is? i mean this is a soccer nation today. is it? >> i think we need to make a distinction between the world cup and soccer.

the world cup is not soccer. 33 million people watched hussein run the 100 meter dash and win it in the olympics. does that mean americans love running? no. it means americans love watching one of the greatest athletes in the world do what he is great at. what's happening now is the world cup is our new summer olympics. it's something that tennessee of millions of people tune in to every 4 years but we sort of forget about this sport on television and the 1,400 days between the world cup, between world cups. >> it is growing in its t.v. popularity. certainly, we have seen that since these matches started. >> well, the world cup is actually successful. 11 million people watched us play ghana. 23 million people watched us play portugal on the esp espn univision but 33 million

watching hussein bolt and 100 million people watching the super bowl, this is successful but mls, major league soccer ratings, they are miniscule, in the hundred thousands and have fallen over the last eight years. america's success in the world cup hasn't translated into wild t.v. audiences for american soccer. >> or stadium attendance either. >> right. attendance inside the stadiums is actually pretty good. the problem is that nobody else understands watching soccer. in fact, if you look at the valuation of some of these mls soccer teams, they have gotten higher and hire over the last 10 years. there are a lot of things. you have a lot of television companies interested in sports rights. the nba is too expensive. the n.f.l. is way too expensive. mlb is taken up. they are looking at soccer as a growing sports because hispanics are the fastest growing demographic in america. the difference between looking at these long-term demographic trends and economic need to have sports rights and actual people

watching on their couches these games, i mean we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. right now, there is not a lot of evidence americans are craving soccer for the 1400 days between world cups. >> speaking here quickly on the question of money and its connection to the game, you know, there was a lot of interest in the bite third around the world. a lot of question about whether fifa would clamp down given he is such a valuable player to the game but they did. >> ned's. they clamp down. they did clamp down first and fifa clamped down in a different financial way later. i think what we are seeing here is that fifa wants its best players to play but they have a lot of great players. brazil has wonderful players. messi is fantastic. ronaldo was awesome. there are a lot of stars in soccer. they don't want to allow one of their stars to gone around biting people and make it look like soccer is an absolute wild free for all. they have an interest in making the sport look good to the rest of the world. this is a showcase.

i think they did the right thing. i think there are ways, also, understandably extremely upset by the fact their best player won't be playing for the rest of the tournament. >> derrick thompson, senior editor at the "atlantic" we appreciate you being here with us. >> thank you. >> looking ahead on our program, painful medicine. >> it's so painful to know that i was born to be a heeler and that the american healthcare system did not allow me to be a healer. and that's all my patients wanted. >> the hidden health risk phasing many physicians and the therapy designed to save them. correspondent lori jane gehall for doctors' depression friday on america tonight. >> up next in this hour, one of the world's most deadly diseases takes hold in west africa. what health workers say is the worst outbreak of ebola ever. and what could stop it from spreading?

talk to al jazeera, saturday, 5 eastern. only on al jazeera america.

>> see then police are having stones thrown at them by the protestors >> an unpopular uprising... >> these...violations were part of a systematic tactics by venezuelan security forces >> brutal government crack downs >> the amount of anger here, you can see tensions between the two sides... >> is venezuela on the brink? fault lines al jazeera america's >> ground breaking... >> we have to get out of here... award winning investigative documentary series venezuela divided on al jazeera america ♪ now a snapshot of stories making headlines on "america tonight." a new deadline looming on the crisis in ukraine. separatists say they will resume peace talks but the president poroshenko said he may not extend it beyond friday. the united nations reports more than 400 people have been killed

in eastern ukraine since fighting broke out. another retailer pushing up wages. ikea says increase will be based upon store locations. workers will be paid about $10 and 76 sentence an hour, which means roughly half of ikea's 13,000,000 hourly workers will be getting a race. key verdict for abortion activists. the supreme court struck down a massachusetts law which kept protesters away from abortion clinics. the 2007 law created a 35 foot buffer zone but the high court ruled that violates the first amendment. >> a terrified killer striking west africa, the most deadly ebola outbreak ever. health workers are at a loss to stop it. hundreds have died already. the number of new cases is growing. on what this horrible disease is and why it is so difficult to contain. here is "america tonight's" adam

may. >> this is the largest outbreak on record and has the highest number of deaths. this is unprecedented so far. >> the ebola virus is one of the deadliest diseases in the world. there is no cure, no vaccine, and the most aggressive strain kills 90% of its victims. >> strain known as ebola zaire is spreading across west africa. an ebola specialist, pier, at the world health agency. >> the situation in west africa is sirius. i think the fact that this is the first time it is happening in west africa works against us because people don't understand very well how this epidemic can keep going on for a long time if everyone doesn't pull their wait. >> the epidemic in west africa is the biggest outbreak of ebola since the virus was first identified back in 1976. this time, it's killed 367

people out of the more than 600 infected. >> that's already worse than the last big outbreak in 2000 in uganda when 172 people died out of 426 infected. but the latest outbreak isn't just more lethal. it's also started spreading across borders and quickly. the first cases were found in a remote village in gunea in early march. since then, the infection spread to liberia and then siera leone. it is highly contagion and brutal. symptoms include genital swelling, fever, vomiting and bleeding. aid organizations are already on the groundworking to control the outbreak. but their success has been limited so far. >> we have brought more people to bear on this outbreak. we have new people coming in and being trained by the people who are present and we will do what we can. >> being said, this outbreak is

getting very large and it is stretching our resources very, very thin. >> armans brecker is a specialist with doctors without borders. the humanitarian aid agency has called the epdemic out of control. partly because local authorities have not provided the resources necessary to combat at outbreak of this scale. >> this is the first outbreak in west africa so the governments are not experienced in responding to this. >> being said, given the size of the outbreak and the number, it would help if the governments and other actors could bring more resources and people to bear to help contain the outbreak. >> last week, the who said they failed to gauge how severe the outbreak was which has led to the second wave of the decease. after a small decrease in late april. >> when the epidemic started, it was under estimated. it's a lot bigger than we had anticipated. >> reporter: for now, the only way to stop the spread is to

keep victims from spreading it, themselves. this has proven difficult. previous outbreaks have been confined to smaller remote areas. but this time, the disease has spread to yourban areas with large, more mobile populations. >> if we look at different areas where infections can appear like the morgue and mosque, that's where contamination can happen which eveniscapes controls. bus stations, that's a place we need to get to better grips with. we must send out a strong signal to people involved in spreading the disease. >> despite volunteer efforts, misinformation among the west african population is rampant. ebola is new to this area. so locals are frightened and don't always trust health officials or properly quarantine the affected and contapeous. >> this lanes for six months now through muhamm human contact.

people without precaution and through people. >> there are people dying of ebola. >> he said to control the outbreak, education is key. >> we all want to control this outbreak and we will control this outbreak. and it will take probably longer than expected, but we cannot do it against the population. we should do it with the population and if there is things that the population do not understand, we must listen and try to make them understand why they need to change. >> the w.h o. said it will ramp up in early jump forming a response plan to this sub-regional crisis. adam may, al jazeera. >> it is horrifying. joining us is dr. robert gerry from tulane university. he has returned from siera leone

working to contain the outbreak of ebola. doctor, this is just a terrifying disease. your team found whole communities frightened away from home. >> well, it's a very serious outbreak, and as has been said, it's the largest ever in west africa. it's a different situation in west africa. it's a much higher population density than were other outbreaks such as in central africa. the roads are better. people are more used to moving around. so that makes it much more difficult to control. >> now, we have seen some of the healthcare workers. really, they almost have to be blanketed head to tow in protection to protect themselves, and that's part of the reason you came back even in the midst of this crisis. can you explain that? >> well, i mean, the personal protective equipment, what we call the ppe, is in short supply. more supplies are coming over, but it was important to come back over here and make sure that people knew that we needed

to mobilize those resources and get them to places where they are really needed in the parts of west africa that have been affected. >> i guess the point is here that you didn't even have enough to keep working. i mean, you needed more supplies desperately for the size of this outbreak. >> that's why i came back. things are coming. and we have already had some shipments that are helping us with the ppe. so, people are doing their jobs and we are hoping to get this under control. >> not to focus on the too graphic but we did hear some of the details about some of the symptoms and they are quite awful. they frighten people but beyond that, sort of the local superstitions and traditions make it difficult to treat. >> initially, in sierra leone, there was some resistance to the idea the ebola was real. messages have been getting out. i believe people recognize this is a real threat. there is a lot more cooperation from the villagers that we have

noticed over the past few weeks, and so that's an important step towards getting this epidemic under control. >> are there concerns, though, of people who have come forward who are sick? i mean this is -- this is a sort of disease that people regard as pretty much a fatal sentence? >> well, in this case, the cause fatality rate as we call it is about 60%. so, it's definitely not a death sentence automatically, and if the patients can be brought to treatment centers where they are given intravenous fluids and antibiotics to prevent secondary infections, their chances of survivor are actually much greater. so this strain kills about 60, 65% of people. >> actually is working against us in some ways in terms of controlling the epidemic. it's a good thing if you are infected, but in terms of spread, it makes it more difficult because people are healthier a little bit longer and they can move around and that gives the opportunity to spread the virus to other

people. >> doctor robert gerry from tulane university, thank you for being with us. >> thank you very much for your interest. ♪. >> after a break, street fights, arson attacks and clashes in the best neighborhoods. what's behind the violence sweeping venzuela? a preview of sebastian walker's report, "venzuela divided" when we return.

>> coming up on "consider this," the supreme court cuts down president obama. the fallout from a rule that says some important appointments were unconstitutional. isil is terrorizing iraq but the insurgents have made major missteps. i roncally, we will talk to an analyst who says they have ignored obama bin laden's advice. a new york time columnist who will join us. nasa takes an idea from the old west to capture an after the road at the top of the hour. st

the top of the hour. a year after hugo chavez's death, venzuela is in turmoil, the nation divided between a fierce opposition movement and pro-government supporters. demands for greater fairness and now it has led to the deaths of more than if the 40 people. to help us understand who is winching the fight for venzuela's future, to karakas, venzuela divided. . >> in the upscale neighborhood of alfamira, an outpouring of anger is met with a show of force. we are caught in the middle of it. >> just seeing tear gas being thrown. it looks like the police have showed up. everyone is running in this direction. >> since february, protesters

have marched, blockaded streets and fought running battles with the police. more than 40 people have been killed. more than 3,000 detained. the unrest has generated headlines around the world of a ruthless dictatorship crushing dissent. but in venzuela, there are competing narratives. is this an authauthoritarian crackdown with people with radically different visions? a year after the death of hugo chavez, fault lines is in karakas to filed out what's going on in the streets. >> it's true that we have the highest inflation in the world with 59% for these last 12

months. it's true that we are not able to obtain milk or sugar or oil when we need in any supermarket. it's true that we are losing quality of life. >> an over valued currency and dependents on imports has created supply problems making long lines outside supermarkets like this a part of daily life. these are mung the issues that have brought protesters into the streets of wealthier areas of the capitol for months. but if you go to the poor neighborhoods like patari, the city's largest slum, few seem bothered by the long wait to buy groceries. nedi tells us she has been standing in line at this state controlled market sin 5:00 a. s 5:00 a.m. >> for everybody that's been sold here at the subsidized

rate, basic food stuff, beans and milk and sugar and you can see on the packets here, there is actually revolutionary illustrations with an article of the constitution saying that every venzuelan deserves the right to a free education. >> yahida campos manages the operation. she says inflation is a big problem for everyone but that here in this neighborhood, there haven't been any protests. >> translator: on the other side of town, karakas's wealthier residents line up for italian ice cream and cappacino. while those part us pating, the most after flew he want neighborhoods that the majority of the block aides have occurred. >> it doesn't look like this is

the kind of neighborhood where people are suffer from an economic crisis. one of the main protesting camps is down the road here a few blocks away, protesters are holding a birthday celebration for lilita, an opposition party. lopez is in jail charged with instigating the violence that erupted at the first major karakas protest in february. his wife, lillian is lopez's public face while he is behind bars. >> one question in english. you mentioned the violence in the streets. who do you blame for the violence that's taking place and for the lives that have been lost? >> translator:

. >> while the government is blamed for the violence, they used the protest to push a radical strategy, in spanish known as the exit. they are calling for venzuela's elected president to go. they are refusing to join the dialogue between the government and a group of moderate opposition leaders. >> what comes next? what's your strategy? what are you planning for the next? >> translator: >> even commentators sympathetic to the competition say the solution can only make things worse. >> if you are not, you are

creating some kind of coup. even if you have the right to defend your rights, if you create that, you cannot try to kick maduro out and pretend that he is not going to defend himself. >> back in alta mera, the national guard has assembled around the charred remains of a peace truck. protesters set it on fire. the following night, it's a subway kiosk that's attacked. just down the road is one of the encampment students have built to keep the protest movement in the streets. one of the camp's founders, geraldo says his people carried out the attack in response to arrests of their supporters earlier today. tr

. >> reporter: the site is tightly guarded. there were shrines displaying government repress and commemorating protestors killed in the violence. though there have been deaths on both sides, geraldo says the responsibility lies with the government. he has hundreds of pictures of people he said were injured collected from social media. but it's photos of people he calls collectivos who carry the sensational information that the government is intimidating

protesters. suddenly word goes out the police are on their way. protesters scramble for their gas masks and geraldo runs for cover but only after telling us to be ready for a major action the following day. the raid turns out to be a false alarm this time. but it's a sign of what's to come. >> sebastian walker joins us. we saw in that clip really intense, almost as though they are ready for war. it's a class struggle but whose fight is it really? >> it's incredibly intense. on the streets, those pictures were from about six weeks ago. so that's more than three months after the protests started and

the atmosphere on the streets was incredibly tension. the level of acrim moan e between the probe government supporters and opposition is so intensive, it's contributed to a situation where venzuela is on knife edge and things could get worse quickly. >> our expectations of who would be in the midst of this fight, when we look at the lower income people that you saw there, they seem to be focused only on getting food, survival. >> it's interesting. >> that's one of the narratives that there is. it's a lot more complex than the stories that you might hear about venzuela in terms of the struggles between these two sides. >> the haves and have-nots. >> if you go into the pour neighborhoods, those are not the people who are participating in the protests. the ones we spoke to in the line outside the shop, the people waiting to buy food staples. they are saying people organizing are the upper and middle class venzuelans, those who have been disenfranchised by

the chavez government that has made -- put a much greater focus on the poor majority of venzuelans and instituted economic reforms who have helped the poorer neighborhoods and cut poverty rates. one of the achievements of the chavez government is that policy has been cut by more than a half since he came to power in the '9 '90s. >> that's driving a lot of these socioeconomic divisions that are playing out on the streets now. >> as we are seeing there, sebastian walker from fault lines, thank you very much. you can see all of his report, venzuela divided on fault lines saturday 7:00 eastern here on al jazeera america. ahead in our final thoughts of this area, just four strings but full of sound. ♪ tonight, an american treasurer from hawaii with that special island vibe. ♪

♪ finally, tonight, with only four strings and a name that means jumping flee in hawaiin, the ukulele reaches a bigger stage. it's no longer just the sound of don ho and tiny term. there is a new master. we caught up with this american treasurer in las vegas where he is inspire agnew generation to love the ukulele. ♪. >> i have been playing the ukulele since i was four years old, got into it because my mom played. she was my first teacher, sat me down, put it in my hand, taught me like two or three chords and i was just hooked. >> i was born and raised in honolulu, hawaii and i play

ukulele. ♪ ♪ in hawaii, there have been so many great ukulele players. i was expose today all of this great ukulele music, people like eddie kamali who was like the first great ukulele virtwould you say virtuoso. they played with a group that redefined traditional hawaiian music. >> that's what inspired me to play. i started trying to collect every ukulele album that was out there and listening to it and just i fell in love with the i hope instrument. ♪

♪ i think people are starting to see that it's such a simple instrument to play. it's affordable. it's portable. and people don't feel like they need to be a musician to play the ininstrument. the ukulele is probably the least intimidating of instruments. even if you are an amateur player, people just love it. ♪ my favorite is just sitting in front of a group of kids trying to play things that they recognize. >> you can play more than just hawaiian music with the ukulele. you can play rock' roll. you can play classical music.

♪ >> they light up. they start singing along and you make that instant connection. ♪ ♪ i started out performing in hawaii, and, you know, getting some recognition on the island. then there was some interest in japan because hawaiian culture is very popular in zapap, especially hawaiian music. i had a video that someone had posted on u tube /* youtube. it went viral. every year, you know, it's been picking up and picking up. it just brings people so much joy and happiness and that's why

i play it, and it's why i love sharing it with people. >> that's why everyone loves his sound. >> that's america tonight. please join us next time when we bring you the story of the hidden health risks facing physicians and the therapy designed to save them from an untimely fate. correspondent lori jane gleyhall friday on "america tonight." if you would like to see or comment on any of the stories you have seen tonight, log onto our website, a al jazeera/americatonight. meet our team and get sneak previews of stories we are working on. tell us what you want to see on our nightly program. please join the conversation on twitter or our facebook page. we will have more of "america tonight" tomorrow. >>

>> consider this: the news of the day plus so much more. >> we begin with the growing controversy. >> answers to the questions no one else will ask. >> real perspective, consider this on al jazeera america a supreme setback for president obama - america's highest court rules several key appointments he made were unconstitutional. i.s.i.l. becomes one of the most feared terror groups. could mistakes spell their doom? plus, we are joined by a "new york times" reporter facing gaol time for refusing to disclose