Edit Story 'They pulled our pants off' says woman assaulted in Tahrir Square - UK news

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Arab-American tells of ordeal as Egyptians commemorated the on year anniversary of the revolution in the iconic Tahrir Square yesterday

Last night Blottr reported about several reports of women being assaulted in Tahrir Square whilst Egyptians celebrated the one year anniversary of the revolution. As the hours passed, the reports were confirmed and clarified. Besides the many women who were assaulted to different degrees yesterday, the cases of four women who were particularly violently assaulted stand out.

In our <a href="http://www.blottr.com/world/breaking-news/several-women-reportedly-assaulted-tahrir-square" target="_blank">previous report</a> we were made aware of a woman who was “assaulted in front of her husband”. This woman turned out to be a foreigner, her identity is not known, and she was sexually assaulted, as many eyewitnesses confirmed.

Her ordeal lasted about 10 minutes, a time during which dozens of men teared her clothes off and grabbed her body. Several times people tried to rescue her but were violently pushed away. Unfortunately, her husband who witnessed the scene, did not manage to protect her from this herd of men. She was finally rescued by ambulance officers.

Witnesses of the attack talk about chaotic scenes

Another story was brought to our attention. We highlighted in our <a href="http://www.blottr.com/world/breaking-news/several-women-reportedly-assaulted-tahrir-square" target="_blank">previous report</a> the tweet of @MomoAwadAllah who spoke of her friend being “badly harassed. Pants, tops, and bra torn”.

It turns out this group of women also included the Arab-American girl, known as Heather and her two roommates. Eyewitnesses say the events occurred at around 7:30 pm local time in the centre of Tahrir Square, when thousands of Egyptians were celebrating and protesting.

The Arab-American girl, Heather, gave an interview to a local media organisation in which she told her story.

Before deciding “who was going to do what”, a crowd of men started to encircle the three young ladies. As they were attacked the three women were pushed to the ground. This is when the men tried to take their pants off. Heather and her roommates desperately tried to defend themselves but in vain.

“It is disgusting. They put fingers up my ass” she told local media.

After several minutes, a man and a woman miraculously managed to rescue the three women from this horrible situation. Due to the shock Heather was unable to recall the details. “I was shaking and crying and the man and woman just grabbed us and pulled us out and took us out of the square" she said.

Many activists on Twitter have strongly condemned attacks saying that the perpetrators were not revolutionaries but "thugs" .

Award-winning Egyptian-American columnist Mona el-Tahawy who was herself beaten and sexually assaulted by the Egyptian police last November declared on her Twitter account:

<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/monaeltahawy/status/162273481751400450">https://twitter.com/#!/monaeltahawy/status/162273481751400450</a>

Last November a French female journalist, Caroline Sinz, was sexually assaulted at Tahrir Square by a crowd of men as her cameraman and her were reporting on clashes in central Cairo.

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