Widespread Reports of Sexual Assaults in Egyptian Protests

Reported incidents of sexual violence against women in the newest round of Egyptian protests are rampant across Twitter. Many are blaming the Muslim Brotherhood for the assaults. Some are suggesting that female journalists are being targeted – a specter reminiscent of the sexual assault on CBS News’ Lara Logan in the early days of the Tahrir Square protests.

On Sunday, the Egypt Independent reported that a crowd of 300 had sexually assaulted three women in Tahrir Square.

An alliance of Egyptians quickly formed to try to combat the sexual assaults, creating a Twitter account: @TahrirBodyguard. For some reason, Twitter then shut down the account.