CNN's Anderson Cooper was repeatedly punched in the head by pro-Mubarak thugs while his crew was also surrounded, punched and kicked by the mob.
A senior editor at CNN said of the attack on Anderson Cooper's crew, the network's marquee anchor, " was punched 10 times in the head as pro-Mubarak mob surrounded him and his crew trying to cover demonstration," Steve Brusk wrote on Twitter.
Another CNN correspondent, Hala Gorani, told television viewers of being threatened by apparent supporters of the president.
" Protesters are hunting down Al Jazeera journos," wrote Abbas Al Lawati of Gulf News in Dubai. " I keep having to clarify that I'm not one of them."
NYT columnist Nicholas Kristoff reports that the pro-Mubarak protests are plainly the work of Mubarak himself:
Today President Mubarak seems to have decided to crack down on the democracy movement, using not police or army troops but rather mobs of hoodlums and thugs. I've been spending hours on Tahrir today, and it is absurd to think of this as simply " clashes" between two rival groups. The pro-democracy protesters are unarmed and have been peaceful at every step. But the pro-Mubarak thugs are arriving in buses and are armed - and they're using their weapons.
In my area of Tahrir, the thugs were armed with machetes, straight razors, clubs and stones. And they all had the same chants, the same slogans and the same hostility to journalists. They clearly had been organized and briefed. So the idea that this is some spontaneous outpouring of pro-Mubarak supporters, both in Cairo and in Alexandria, who happen to end up clashing with other side - that is preposterous. It's difficult to know what is happening, and I'm only one observer, but to me these seem to be organized thugs sent in to crack heads, chase out journalists, intimidate the pro-democracy forces and perhaps create a pretext for an even harsher crackdown.
... Various networks are streaming live video from high vantage points above Cairo's Tahrir Square. Live streams are also available on BBC.comAl Jazeera English YouTube channel. and the CNN is broadcasting live video of the scene outside the Egyptian Museum as one Molotov cocktail after another is being thrown at the opposition protesters in Tahrir Square.
4 comments:
In Toronto, Rogers is offering a free preview of Al Jazeera English on channel 176.
Al-Jazeera has a free live stream on their website too...
As far as the protests go, I believe it is instructive of what happens when a security apparatus numbering close to a million members is ordered to shed their uniforms and begin brutalizing an otherwise peaceful demonstration. To what end does this incitement to violence produce? The first salvo by Mubarak to spread chaos rather than give up his ego-maniacal reign of terror? It seems to also create doubt in his desire to step down in September.
Strange, the parallels that can exist between an authoritarian government and a parliamentary system when peaceful mass demonstration can be cracked down on in precisely the same manner and form. (albeit different context of course)
I've been grateful to have Al Jazeera's live stream on my computer. It really is first rate.
Forest, you ask what end is served by this violence? I think Mubarak is trying to contrive an excuse for him to deploy the army to put down the demonstrations - for the protesters own good and safety. It's a devious device, one that depended on being able to keep the pro-Mubarak thugs' identity secret. Fortunately that failed, exposing the connivance of Mubarak and further undermining any residual belief in his promises.
This is not a man looking to yield power. We all keep forgetting the years of torture, murder. If his side loses power he and his henchmen will be held accountable. They can't have that.
I enjoyed your parallel on reactionary responses to mass demonstrations. Good point.
And if the anti-Mubarak protesters give up now, they have a Spring and Summer of torture ahead of them.
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