Oh noes! Anderson Cooper, like many major journalists (coughcoughKatieCouriccough), is in Egypt for the massive demonstrations and anti-Hosni Mubarak (I spelled his name right before looking it up! YAY!) activities. For the most part, it seems like the millions of demonstrators have been non-violent, which is a good thing. International support of these demonstrations can turn on a dime, and so far, the anti-Mubarak people have been playing it safe with the Western journalists and everybody is playing nice. Unfortunately, in a last-ditch effort to save his job (and his life, maybe), Mubarak is attempting to photo-op his way out of this disaster. Small, pro-Mubarak groups have been trailing Western journalists and demonstrating (against the anti-Mubarak demonstrators) in front of the cameras. When CNN’s camera crew – lead by Anderson Cooper – was trying to report from the street, these pro-Mubarak demonstrators got out of hand and attacked The Coop.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper escaped serious injury Wednesday when he was attacked by a group of demonstrators in Egypt, which has been plunged into crisis in recent days by political protests.

Cooper, 43, said he and his production crew, reporting from Cairo, were set upon by demonstrators loyal to embattled president Hosni Mubarak. “The attackers pushed and shoved the CNN crew and punched them in the head, he said, but no one was seriously hurt,” according to a report on CNN.com.

A colleague, CNN’s Steve Brusk, tweeted that Cooper was “punched 10 times in the head” by a “pro-Mubarak mob.”

The extent of Cooper’s injuries were not known, but the anchor has continued to file reports on the unrest since the incident.

[From People]

Poor Anderson. What’s worse is that I get the feeling that Anderson is in no way a brawler. If that had been CNN’s Michael Ware, that junk would have gotten really bloody, with Ware throwing most of the punches. I’m biased though – I love Michael Ware. He’s crazy and brave, and I love the way he says “lame duck” with his Aussie accent. Anyway, Anderson took the punches like a man and continued reporting later on in the evening. See Andy describe the scene afterwards:

Photos courtesy of WENN.