Detroit crowd turns on al-Jazeera crew

The Guardian ^ | 04/10/2003 | Claire Cozens

[DeepInEnemyTerritory]

An al-Jazeera reporter had to be rescued from a crowd of Iraqi Americans celebrating the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime after they turned on him and his cameraman.

Nezam Mahdawi, Washington correspondent for the Arabic-language broadcaster, was set upon by angry demonstrators in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, where he had travelled to cover the spontaneous demonstration.

Dearborn is home to one of the largest populations of Iraqi Shi'ite Muslims outside the Middle East.

Police were forced to intervene and asked the pair to leave following a long stand-off with crowds hurling insults and shouting "Down Jazeera".

Al-Jazeera is widely watched in the Arab world and has enjoyed a huge increase in subscriber numbers since the start of the war from Muslims eager to get a different perspective from western news providers.

But the broadcaster has faced accusations of anti-American bias in the US, where it has also been charged with supporting Saddam's regime.

"These networks talk about freedom and democracy but they don't represent freedom and democracy. To the last moment they tried to support the dictatorship regime," one of the demonstrators, Cassy Mahbouba, told the Reuters news agency.

Mahdawi said al-Jazeera was used to such accusations.

The broadcaster this week accused US forces of targeting it after cameraman Tarek Ayyoub was killed when two bombs dropped during a US air raid hit the satellite television station's office in the Iraqi capital.

Rival Arabic-language broadcaster Abu Dhabi was also hit.

"Our office is in a residential area and even the Pentagon knows its location," said Ibrahim Hilal, the chief editor of al-Jazeera, at its headquarters in Qatar.

The US has denied the charge.

[DeepInEnemyTerritory]

Notice the UK is reporting on this story, not the US where it happened.

[HighRoadToChina]

BUMP!

[Publius]

Imagine what would happen if people began mobbing ABC, CBS or CNN crews because their coverage was anti-American.

[remitrom]

I wonder if Al Jazeera will air it in on Middle East TV..

[FourPeas]

This is one of those things that makes you go hmmmmm.

[smiley]

WELL....wonder if Susan Saranwrap and Tim Wobbins will chime in on this protest?...

[Lost Highway]

The reporters are just lucky they were not there after one of Detroit's teams won a championship.

[js1138]

This is one of those things that makes you go hmmmmm.

Makes you wonder if Muslim Americans will ever start calling themselves Americans. Makes you wonder if future terrorist cells can ever hope to operate in complete safety in Muslim American Communities.

[TomB]

where he had travelled to cover the spontaneous demonstration.

OK, if the demonstration was spontaneous, how did he know to travel there to cover it?

[ChadGore]

Dearbornastan speaks

[ellery]

heh heh heh....

[Calpernia]

Good catch! I missed that one. Does Al Jazeera have offices in the states?

[Mr. Silverback]

If Al-Jazeera gets treated like this, The Guardian and The Mirror had better watch themselves in Detroit...Their coverage makes Al-Jazeera look like The Army Times.

[stands2reason]

What a *cough* *cough* shame. That's just.....really......sad.....really...

[Illbay]

Not just "the U.K." but the Guardian, that English-language bastion of Marxism.

When you think "Guardian" think "Soviet Pravda."

[taildragger]

Deep,

I live not to far from Dearborn and travel there regularly.

My definition of Culture Shock:

A Muslim Woman in traditional dress driving a brand new Ford Explorer with a "I (Symbol for a Heart) NY" license plate on the front bumper.

I kid you not, I saw it with my own eyes.

Sometimes I am amazed at what a wonderful country this is with all it's problems.

[RushLake]

Aw c'mon, are you sure it wasn't a p.o.s. little gray car without hubcaps a.k.a. an east Dearborn staff car?

[correctthought]

From the Guardian no less.

[demosthenes the elder]

didn't anyone tell those AllJism nitwits about Detroit?

[demosthenes the elder]

don't hold your breath on that one.
I am still waiting for someone who has just suffered a catastrophic loss in his family to eviscerate one of those smarm-master reporters who dare to ask "And how does this make you feel?"