Foreign journalists were beaten with sticks and fists by pro-government mobs on Thursday, and two dozen were detained by security forces.
Among the many detained were correspondents for The New York Times, Washington Post and Al-Jazeera. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said late Thursday that in just the past 24 hours it had recorded 24 detentions of journalists, 21 assaults and five cases in which equipment was seized.
Both foreign and Egyptian journalists were targeted in attacks that have "intensified to levels unseen in Egypt's modern history," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator.
"This is a dark day for Egypt and a dark day for journalism," said Joel Simon, the group's executive director. "Egypt is seeking to create an information vacuum that puts it in the company of the world's worst oppressors."
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 organizations have been using the Ramses Hilton overlooking Tahrir Square as a base to cover the mayhem.
Two Fox News Channel journalists were severely beaten by a mob near Tahrir Square on Wednesday. Correspondent Greg Palkot and cameraman Olaf Wiig had retreated to a building, but someone threw a firebomb inside and the men were attacked as they rushed out, said Michael Clemente, Fox's senior vice resident for news.
Swedish public broadcaster SVT said one of its reporters, Bert Sundstrom,was stabbed Thursday. The network said it's unclear what happened but that when an editor called Sundstrom's cell phone a man answered in Arabic that the reporter was in the hands of the Egyptian government. SVT said Sundstrom was seriously injured but described his condition as stable.
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 shoving, shouting crowd to a car, she 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.
Pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera said three of its journalists were detained by security forces, four were attacked and another was missing. It reported Thrsday night that the arrested journalists had been released.
Egyptian authorities have complained the network's coverage was slanted in favor of protesters and could encourage unrest.
Al-Jazeera also said equipment was stolen and destroyed during the 10 days of protests and its broadcast signal was disupted across the Arab world.
ABC News correspondent Brian Hartman and a crew were carjacked as they returned from Cairo's airport after retrieving equipment. They were driven into a narrow alley and surrounded by angry men, one in a police uniform who said, "So help me God ... I am going to cut off your head," he said in a story posted on ABC's website.
The leaders of France, Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain said in a joint statement that the "attacks against journalists are completely unacceptable."
Government spokesman Magdy Rady on Wednesday denied government involvement in attacks on reporters and said officials welcomed objective coverage.
"It would help our purpose to have it as transparent as possible. We need your help," Rady told The Associated Press. However, he said some media were not impartial and were "taking sides against Egypt."
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