France 24 reporter sexually assaulted on Tahrir Square: female journalists targeted by mobs

A female reporter for France 24 was brutally attacked and sexually assaulted whilst reporting live on a mass demonstration taking place in Tahrir square in Cairo.



Sonia Dridi has described how a group of men surged around her, touching her and pulling at her clothes as a male colleague tried to protect her. She was finally able to take shelter in a restaurant where workers locked the gate against the crowd waiting for her outside



This is not the first time a foreign female journalist has been sexually assaulted on Tahrir Square in what analysts say is a worrying trend of violence against women.



In 2011 CBS correspondent Lara Logan had her clothes ripped off by a crowd of male demonstrators who were reportedly shouting the word "Jew". Only months later another French reporter, Caroline Sinz, was beaten, sexually assaulted then dragged to a police station by her hair.



However, it is not only foreign journalists who are being targeted for sexual abuse. Last winter footage released of a female demonstrator in Alexandria being beaten and groped by a crowd of men sent shockwaves through the media. According to Egyptian women's rights activists the situation has worsened since the Arab Spring uprising, with sexual harassment becoming a daily occurrence, even for women covered by headscarves or burqas.