Journalists injured, arrested

CAIRO, Egypt (AP):

Foreign journalists were beaten with sticks and fists by pro-government mobs yesterday, while dozens were detained by security forces. The United States condemned what it called the "systematic targeting" of the reporters, photographers and film crews who have brought searing images of Egyptian protests to the world.

Foreign photographers reported attacks by supporters of President Hosni Mubarak near Tahrir Square, the scene of vicious battles between Mubarak supporters and protesters demanding he step down after nearly 30 years in power. The Egyptian government has accused media outlets of being sympathetic to protesters who want Mubarak to quit now rather than complete his term as he has pledged.

Among the many detained were correspondents for The New York Times, Washington Post and Al-Jazeera. Human- rights groups said many activists were taken away after a raid by the military police on a legal centre in Cairo.

Dark day for journalism

"This is a dark day for Egypt and a dark day for journalism," said Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). "Egypt is seeking to create an information vacuum that puts it in the company of the world's worst oppressors."

CPJ said some state-owned television and private stations owned by businessmen loyal to Mubarak had been portraying journalists as part of plots to destabilise Egypt.

BBC foreign editor Jon Williams said via Twitter that security forces seized the network's equipment in a Cairo Hilton hotel in an attempt to stop it broadcasting. Many international news organisations have been using the Ramses Hilton overlooking Tahrir Square as a base to cover the mayhem. And Al-Jazeera said its broadcast signal had been disrupted across the Arab world.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs denounced reports of "systematic targeting" of journalists in Egypt. The State Department described it as a "concerted campaign to intimidate".

The Sunday Times newspaper's foreign affairs correspondent, Marie Colvin, said armed men gathered outside a home where she was interviewing the family of a protester who'd been shot.

The men of the family locked her in a nearby shop and then helped her through the shoving, shouting crowd to a car, she said.

"What happened today was terrifying," Colvin said. "And you can't call the police."

"I think we need to be clear that the world is watching the actions that are taking place right now in Egypt," Gibbs said.

Douglas Jehl, foreign editor for The Washington Post, said on the paper's website that Cairo bureau chief Leila Fadel and photographer Linda Davidson were held by military police and released. Their translator, Sufian Taha, and driver, Mansour el-Sayed Mohammed Abo Gouda, were believed to remain in custody, Jehl wrote.