Clashes erupting between pro and con Mubarak supporters in Cairo

CAIRO — Many journalists covering the protests in Egypt were detained and attacked on Thursday, and human rights groups were also a target, in what appeared to be an escalating effort to block reports on the violence.

The Egyptian security forces were rounding up workers for human rights groups as well as foreign journalists, witnesses in Cairo said. Security police raided the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, where many nongovernmental organizations operate. They ordered people there to lie on the floor and disabled their mobile phones. Two people were being interrogated. The state news agency Thursday has asked foreign press to evacuate all the hotels near Tahrir Square.

The Committee to Protect Journalists was investigating at least 10 cases of reporters being detained on Thursday. The government told the journalists that they were not being arrested but rather taken into “protective custody,” according to the group.

The United States protested the actions against reporters.

“There is a concerted campaign to intimidate international journalists in Cairo and interfere with their reporting,” Philip J. Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, said Thursday morning in a statement via Twitter. “We condemn such actions."

The attacks on journalists started almost as soon as violent clashes began on Wednesday in the central Tahrir Square, as orchestrated waves of pro-government forces swept in, using rocks, bats, and knives and Molotov cocktails against the anti-government protesters.

The cellphone service provider Vodafone acknowledged that the government had invoked emergency powers to force it to send out text messages.

Some of the messages appeared to include calls for people to turn out in support of the government, and were sent ahead of the violent clashes. Images of the messages were posted online and first reported by The Guardian.

“To every mother-father-sister-brother, to every honest citizen preserve this country as the nation is forever,” read one message.

With Internet services largely restored, many Egyptian bloggers began posting in earnest.

Egyptian state television also began showing images from Tahrir Square for the first time on Wednesday as violence escalated, focusing on supporters of Mr. Mubarak and scenes of pitched street battles. It appeared likely that both moves by the government were directed at painting a violent image of the antigovernment protesters.

“It’s clearly a media strategy that’s being implemented,” Tala Dowlatshahi, a spokeswoman for Reporters Without Borders. “State-controlled television has been broadcasting soap operas and cooking shows for the past few days until today.”

The government has sought to control information since large-scale protests against Mr. Mubarak and his subordinates began last month, but overt harassment has been scattered and attempts to control the gripping images and narratives from Cairo have mostly failed. Wednesday’s attacks appeared to represent the most coordinated and widespread effort to stop foreign reporters from doing their jobs.

“The Egyptian government is employing a strategy of eliminating witnesses to their actions” in a “series of deliberate attacks on journalists,” Mohamed Abdel Dayem of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said on Wednesday.

Reporters Without Borders said it had received dozens of confirmed reports of violence against local and international journalists in Egypt on Wednesday. Tala Dowlatshahi, a spokeswoman for the group, said to “expect more foreign journalists to be targeted.”

maybe a weed thought, but it looks like mubarak is more shrewd than expected.
once the police lost control, he had them looting.
now after looting, state media is confucing the shit out of the people with mixed reports(and no internet) keeping the citizenry from being able to make heads or tales of anything.

all the while not noticing basic supplies are lacking, as they were looted.
a hungry population doesnt fight.

based on how humanity reacts to this and how humanity approach this ...iran..sudan..myramar..libya..

a lot of barking at the moon, pounding of the chest..grinding of teeth..then everybody turns off the computer and watches "american idol"..

obama..the UN..Amnesty International..is going to condemn this but IS NOT GOING TO DO SHIT...

tragic....

an anarchist movement that could be proved to work? Oh no way, no how! send in the agent provocateurs courtesy of international financial interest.

Then again there could really be a significant group of loyalist who support this pseudo dictator....don't hold your breathe

according to a June, 2010 Pew opinion survey of Egyptians:

Fifty nine percent said they back Islamists. Only 27% said they back modernizers. Half of Egyptians support Hamas. Thirty percent support Hizbullah and 20% support al Qaida. Moreover, 95% of them would welcome Islamic influence over their politics….Eighty two percent of Egyptians support executing adulterers by stoning, 77% support whipping and cutting the hands off thieves. 84% support executing any Muslim who changes his religion…When this preference is translated into actual government policy, it is clear that the Islam they support is the al Qaida Salafist version.

When given the opportunity, the crowds on the street are not shy about showing what motivates them. They attack Mubarak and his new Vice President Omar Suleiman as American puppets and Zionist agents. The US, protesters told CNN’s Nick Robertson, is controlled by Israel. They hate and want to destroy Israel. That is why they hate Mubarak and Suleiman.

I find it so coincidental that all of these "pro" Mubarak supporters hit the streets right after his announcement about staying until September.