Guardian Journalist Arrested and Beaten Alongside Protesters in Egypt Secretly Records Ordeal In Egypt, running battles between police and anti-government protesters continued into the early hours of Thursday morning. Police have arrested up to 1,200 people, including a number of journalists. Among them was Guardian reporter, Jack Shenker. He was arrested and beaten by plainclothes police on Tuesday night and shoved into a truck with dozens of other people. He managed to keep his dictaphone with him and recorded what was happening as the truck carried them outside of Cairo. We play some of the dramatic audio and speak to him live by telephone.
Guardian Reporter Jack Shenker on Egypt Protests: "Fear Barrier Seems to Have Been Broken" Unprecedented protests in Egypt continue for a second day. On Wednesday, demonstrators defied a government ban on gatherings and took to streets in the biggest popular protests against President Hosni Mubarak in three decades. We go to Cairo to speak with Guardian reporter Jack Shenker. "That fear barrier seems to have been broken," Shenker says. "These are sort of middle-class people who are generally enjoying quite a comfortable standard of living... They’ve got a lot to lose, and yet they’re still being motivated to come out, to be beaten, to be hit by water cannons, to be carried off into the desert," he says. "There’s so much energy and so much momentum behind what’s going on ... I think we’ll still see a lot of people on the streets tomorrow."
Egyptian American Activist: Hillary Clinton Forgets to Mention Tear Gas, Tanks, Concussion Grenades Used Against Egyptian Protesters Are Made in the U.S. In Egypt, protesters faced tear gas, water cannon and beatings from security forces on the streets of Cairo on Wednesday. Up to 1,200 people were arrested, including a number of journalists. Six people have reportedly been killed since Tuesday. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not criticize the Egyptian government, saying only that the country was stable and Egyptians had the right to protest, while urging all parties to avoid violence. We speak with Mostafa Omar, an Egyptian American activist and writer.
From Tucson to Virginia Tech: Shooting Survivor Calls for Gun Control Thirty-two people died in the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, six died in the Tucson attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and 34 people are killed by a bullet every day in the United States. However, President Obama made no mention of gun control during his State of the Union address Tuesday. White House advisers say he will soon unveil new gun control efforts to strengthen current laws that allow mentally unstable people, such as alleged Arizona shooter Jared Loughner, to purchase assault weapons without a background check. We speak with Colin Goddard, a survivor of the Virginia Tech shooting massacre who, after recovering and finishing his degree, decided to work with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the nation’s largest gun control organization. His story is told in Living for 32, a new documentary that just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. We also hear from former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson about a bill passed Wednesday by the Utah House of Representatives to make the Browning M1911 pistol the official state gun.