CNN’s Ivan Watson says it was just another day at the office Saturday when he was roughed up by security forces in Istanbul while reporting on the one year anniversary of the standoff and crackdown in Istanbul’s Gezi park. Turkish authorities began demanding his identification, then knocking him around and kicking him, all in the middle of a live report.
“I’m pretty used to getting knocked around by security forces,” Watson told Kate Bolduan on “New Day.” “I’ve been detained in Iran and Russia. I’ve been knocked around in Turkey before. The difference here is that it happened on live television.”
Watson says he wasn’t legally detained but rather held for a half hour as security forces conducted an identity check. “They did not accept my Turkish press accreditation,” he says, adding that he’s seen other colleagues in the media leave their jobs because of the pressure put on them by security forces. WATCH: