Pro-Reform Activists Attacked in Egypt

CAIRO, Egypt – Riot police and government supporters attacked dozens of pro-reform activists, beating them with clubs, kicking them and throwing them into police trucks during a Saturday protest in the Egyptian capital against President Hosni Mubarak.

Opposition groups were attempting to hold the protest in Cairo’s main square two days after Mubarak announced he would run for re-election in a Sept. 7 vote. The protesters, however, were met by a line of riot police blocking the square.

Plainclothes men wielding police batons descended on the protesters and beat them. At least 15 were seen being beaten by an Associated Press reporter at the scene.

Groups of five or six men surrounded a single protester on the ground, kicking and hitting the person with batons. Dazed and bruised protesters were thrown into nearby police vans. Black-uniformed police also attacked some activists.

Several hundred protesters appeared to be at the scene, chanting slogans against Mubarak, but precise numbers were difficult to gauge because they were immediately assaulted.

The clashes came in the wake of similar violence in May during a constitutional referendum, when government supporters attacked and sexually assaulted women at a reform protest. The violence brought criticism from the United States, which is pressing Egypt to ensure its September presidential election is fair and democratic.