CAIRO: Presidential hopeful and former head of the IAEA Mohamed ElBaradei was attacked Saturday by what he called "organized thugs" when he arrived at a polling station in Moqqatam with his family to vote on amendments to the constitution.
ElBaradei was attacked by a mob of over a thousand people who splashed water on him and threw stones at him and his family when he arrived at the polling station in an poor Egyptian district housing those left homeless after an earthquake in the early 1990s.
A Daily News Egypt photojournalist present at the scene said that as soon as he arrived at around 4 pm, people started shouting that they didn't want him, as well as hurling insults and curses, preventing him from entering the poll station and forcing him to leave.
Later, on his Twitter account, ElBaradei wrote, "Went 2 vote w family attacked by organized thugs. Car smashed w rocks. Holding referendum in absence of law & order is an irresponsible act."
In another Twitter post at around 7 pm, ElBaradei wrote "Top figures of Mubarak regime still @large undermining revolution. Something is terribly wrong!!"
DNE saw the regular security and army presence witnessed at all polling stations comprising two senior policemen and two army personnel, who did not attempt to reach ElBaradei when he was attacked. The numbers were too large and the policemen were inside the polling station.
ElBaradei announced his position rejecting the proposed amendments to the constitution during several TV appearances over the past 20 days when they being were debated.
One of the most outspoken critics of the former regime, ElBaradei was subjected to a smear campaign spearheaded by the state-run media when he first appeared on the political scene in early 2010.
