Feb 02, 2011

CNN's Anderson Cooper attacked by crowds in Cairo

09:56 AM

By Dan Steinberg, APC

NN correspondent Anderson Cooper says he was punched 10 times in the head as supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak surrounded him and his crew while they were trying to cover demonstrations in Cairo.

CNN's Steve Brusk tweets that the mob roughed up Anderson and his crew near Tahrir Square.

The report says no one was seriously hurt. Al Arabiya reports that its crews have also been beaten by the pro-Mubarak crowds.

Anderson said the CNN team was attacked for about five minutes "as we retreated from the square to seek safety" in a nearby building.

Two Associated Press correspondents and several other journalists were roughed up during gatherings of Mubarak supporters, the AP reports. European papers reported that a Belgian journalist was beaten, detained and accused of spying by unidentified people in civilian clothes.

Update at 12:53 p.m. ET: State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley denounced what he said were "violent attacks on peaceful demonstrators and journalists."

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... n-cairo-/1