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Reports: Journalists beaten in Crimea

Reporters in the Crimean town of Sevastopol were reportedly beaten by members of a local pro-Russian militia on Friday night, according to tweets from several reporters who witnessed the event or spoke with officials on the scene.

The attack took place after Russian soldiers took over a Ukrainian military base in Sevastopol, according to the reports. Officers from both sides were discussing terms of surrender when members of the local Crimea militia began physically attacking journalists, the reports stated.

"Just now: Rus troops stormed gate, threatened shoot to kill. Ukrainians ignored. Self defence came,beat journos, Russians left," tweeted Shaun Walker, the Moscow correspondent for The Guardian, after speaking with the deputy commander of the military base.

"The #Ukraine & #Russia officers were discussing terms of surrender/truce when local #Crimea militia and began roughing up journos," Anshel Pfeffer, a writer for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, reported . "At least one Russian journalist needed treatment after being beaten over head by pro-#Russia militia at 5KM base."

"In #Crimea RUS sldrs brutally beat journalists including women. Some tried to escape but RUS overtook. 1 of jrnlst by phone shout 'save me,'" wrote Peter Shuklinov, Ukrainian journalist and special correspondent for the Liga news agency.

"Evilly menacing atmosphere at base entrance. Cameraman got badly bashed up before we got here," Roland Oliphant, the Moscow correspondent for the Telegraph (UK), wrote.

Brian Reis, the real-time news editor for Mashable, first alerted us to these tweets and is continuing to update via Twitter.