Miguel Marquez Beaten In Bahrain: ABC News Correspondent Attacked During Protests In Pearl Square

Riots have rocked the Arab world for weeks now, and attacks on Western journalists reporting from the midst of the fray have been rampant.

Reporting from Bahrain's Pearl Square in the capital city of Manama today, ABC News Correspondent Miguel Marquez suffered a beating with billy clubs while on the phone with his New York office. According to ABC, a "gang of thugs" pulled Marquez's camera from his hands as he struggled to break free, shouting "Journalist! Journalist!" in an effort to prove he wasn't a protester.

ABC News reports:

"Hey! I'm a journalist here!" he yelled. " I'm going! I'm going! I'm going! I'm going! ... I'm hit," he said. "I just got beat rather badly by a gang of thugs. I'm now in a marketplace near our hotel where people are cowering in buildings." He paused. "I mean, these people are not screwing around. They're going to clear that square, tonight, ahead of any protest, on Friday. The government clearly does not want this to get any bigger."

Inspired by Egypt's revolution, protests have shaken Bahrain for three days now as thousands across the tiny island kingdom demand major political reforms. Hear an audio report capturing Marquez's attack below.

LISTEN:

Comments

[SteveDenver]

02:44 PM on 02/18/2011

Last year, wannabe celebutantes were making sex tapes hoping to be noticed.
After three high profile assaults on U.S. reporters, those who follow are just foolish buzz-seekers.

[Sansculotte]

12:45 PM on 02/18/2011

I love it when they start yelling "Journalist, journalist!".
Yeah - right.
There's a time for reason - and a time for *running*. Don't confuse the two and you won't wind-up with welts on your back.

[AGooglyMinotaur]

11:47 AM on 02/18/2011

I have a lot of respect for the journalists who risk their lives to cover things like this uprising. There's a very moving memorial to fallen journalists at the Newseum in DC.

[CLSayles]

05:23 AM on 02/18/2011

Public Service Announcement to white journalist covering the Middle East stories: Go back home!! Attacking the US media has become the new fad. Go back home!!!

[toughlove]

09:26 PM on 02/17/2011

He deserved to get his butt kicked. Who does he think he is anyway?

[littlesnoozebug]

07:52 PM on 02/17/2011

"thugs"? dats waysis

[sisterdebmac]

04:49 PM on 02/17/2011

Somewhere, Nir Rosen is trying really hard not to tweet!

[SteveDenver]

02:45 PM on 02/18/2011

I must be like trying to hold in a gas bubble at the movies.

[Cate Cavanagh]

03:26 PM on 02/17/2011

I can't believe people are still looking at things with tunnel vision. Take that back. I CAN. Mish-you are so right. People here are judging things all wrong, especially in Bahrain! And YES! With things getting worse here, people voted a congress in as a hate vote and nothing more without consideration for what 'they ' said they would do! No surprise they are doing it! They will be crying when the government stops to be sure. Yet, these are probably the same people judging your kindred! This is a human issue not a religious one (although you would think people of ANY religion would be for human rights ANYWHERE! Period. Paragraph!) Watch Wisconsin. Watch Arizona. Watch Alabama. People! Wake up!. We ignore what happening here state by state but in a country like Bahrain their WHOLE 'STATE' is suffering!
In fact, look at the whole plight of Palestinians etc. You have people there oppressed by Israel, Hammas and their own governments! Can we not feel compassion people? Guess not. Not in your back yard? Wait and see. It's coming!

[kayatarms]

01:33 PM on 02/17/2011

Sympathy is going to be lost for not an act of bravery, but an act of stupidity to mix yourself up with a heated crowd. Anti-american sentiment is real or anti-western, wonder why with all the propogandists theories of anti-islam. The crowd doesn't go are "you with me or against me", before they knock you upside the head etc. Story is, stay out the fray and out the way. We can appreciate the goings on without the journalist putting themselves in the mix to tell a story. We actually get it! We also get "snuff" films, don't mean we want these as a steady diet to be viewed on youtube everytime there is an uprise. And there will be more, so be wise and stop the madness adding cameras to the crowd as a bullseye!

[Durango]

06:18 PM on 02/17/2011

Err, the way i read the story he was beaten by thugs who were clearing the square BEFORE the demonstrators arrived,

[grf67]

01:13 PM on 02/17/2011

Why do the news organizations and fox continue to send reporters into a combat zone? If they want to be soldiers, they should join the Army.

[PCMartin]

02:23 PM on 02/17/2011

I *love* that you listed "Fox" separately from "news organizations" ... kind of like when David Letterman announced the Rolling Stones Live, and Keith Richards.

[jeffeastwood15]

03:04 PM on 02/17/2011

Just a few months ago Miguel Marquez would not have been allowed to join the army.

[Mohammed Ramzan]

01:08 PM on 02/17/2011

I wonder which dictator the US will continue to support, at a guess the Saudi's

[Gerald Hilton]

12:35 PM on 02/17/2011

US broadcast reporters in other counties gernerally only write the stories that favor the US governments support. So if they are in a country that has a government that is supported by the US, then they tend to not talk about all the problems that government is causing to it's people. They don't want the US public to know that it's government is supporting a repressive government that may not give the similar level of rights and opportunities that they enjoy.
They believe that ignorance is bliss. And the US government likes it that way. The broadcast companies must keep their licenses; so they co-oporate with the governments wants to sponsor a particular regime.

[xtiangodloki]

01:07 PM on 02/17/2011

Sad but true, though US journalists should not be singled out because most journalists are like that.

That said, while I don't expect any major US journalist interview say family members of civilians who are killed by the CIA drones in Afghanistan. You figured some other western journalists would cover this.

[Durango]

06:22 PM on 02/17/2011

You do know that the US government is a BIG supporter (and vice versa) of the government of Bahrain.

In fact we have a fleet based there.

So this reporters being beaten by pro government thugs kind of takes awat from your argument.

Not that I have much respect for the American Corporate Media.

But it looks to me like your comments belong somewhere else.

Mr. Martinez was doing the job we should want him to do.

[moderatethis]

12:29 PM on 02/17/2011

this was released as it happened ,,,,Why did CBS hold the story of Lara Logan for days ?

Any response Katy ?

[Cate Cavanagh]

03:28 PM on 02/17/2011

I believe this poor woman was attacked by paid thugs to discredit the peaceful demonstrators

[Cabo600]

12:10 PM on 02/17/2011

These protests are really becoming increasingly dangerous and volatile for journalists to continue reporting on. Enter at your own risk.

[falcon269yahoo]

12:00 PM on 02/17/2011

I love a free press, but I must confess to amusement when a journalist has to call for help, but cannot do it in the local language. Not everyone is qualified to be sticking their nose into places in order to keep American curiosity sated. Particularly when it pretty much isn't any of our business, let the locals be the journalists, and pick up their feed. Put your fair-weather journalists on the Lindsay Lohan stories.

[spuggy]

12:21 PM on 02/17/2011

How can anyone bear witness to oppression and abuse if people don't poke their nose in places oppressors/abusers don't want you to see? what makes you think local journalistsin an oppressive country have the freedom to report what's going on???????

[xtiangodloki]

01:00 PM on 02/17/2011

The people in some arab nations have been suffering for decades. If the foreign journalists want to bear witness to oppression and all that where were they before the protests?