An ABC News reporter with ties to L.A. was the latest victim of unrest in the Middle East this week, the network reports.

Miguel Marquez, who worked as a CNN correspondent in Los Angeles in 2003, got a good beat-down with billy clubs in the Bahrain capital of Manama Thursday morning. The network said he was “not badly injured.”

He employed a questionable technique to ward off the thugs:

He yelled, “Journalist, journalist!”

Eh, no es bueno, Miguel. The thugs carried on.

“I just got beat rather badly by a gang of thugs,” Marquez told his network. “I'm now in a marketplace near our hotel where people are cowering in buildings.”

Protesters had gathered in Pearl Square to decry the Bahrain government. They were met with rubber bullets and tear gas.

Wouldn't you think reporters documenting this would be embraced? Guess not. Still, next time, don't pull the “journalist journalist” card, Miguel. Tell 'em you're a compadre.

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