Journalists in Egypt – domestic and foreign – are increasingly under
siege, with Egyptian authorities detaining reporters and gangs of young
men roaming the streets looking for anyone with camera equipment.
Some
of the pressure has come from the government: Six Al Jazeera
journalists were detained for several hours earlier this week, and while
they were eventually released, their equipment remains with the police.
Two New York Times reporters were reportedly arrested – or "taken into protective custody", as the government termed it.
Spotters
stand outside many hotels, watching balconies with high-powered
binoculars. When they see balconies with camera equipment or
photographers, they use radios to call in the details.
Egyptian
police sources say that information from those spotters has been used to
conduct several raids on journalists’ hotel rooms in recent days.
And the government has reportedly pressured several hotels not to extend the reservations of foreign journalists.
But
most of the intimidation and violence has come from unofficial sources:
Young men loiter outside the hotels where many reporters are staying,
shouting at (and sometimes attacking) anyone with equipment.
Hotel
lobbies are filled with journalists and camera crews wearing bandages,
and many have been restricted to watching the events in Tahrir Square
from their hotel balconies.
Egyptian state television has
actively tried to foment the unrest by reporting that "Israeli spies"
have infiltrated the city – which explains why many of the gangs who
attack reporters shout "yehudi!" (“Jew!”).
The area around Tahrir
Square has become a virtual no-go zone for camera crews, which were
assaulted on Wednesday almost as soon as they entered the area
controlled by supporters of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
Several
of them were mistaken for Al Jazeera crews, and were chased off by
young men wielding sticks and chanting, "Jazeera! Jazeera!".
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper said his crew was also assaulted on Tuesday night after being mistaken for an Al Jazeera crew.
A reporter for the Al Arabiya network was kidnapped for several hours during Wednesday’s protest.
The
violence has come exclusively from the Mubarak supporters: There have
been no reports of pro-democracy demonstrators attacking or intimidating
the media.
Egyptian journalists, too, have been the victims of
angry mobs, all of them affiliated with the pro-Mubarak crowd. Sarah El
Sirgany, an editor with the Daily News Egypt, tweeted that her brother was assaulted while trying to protect a group of reporters attacked by an angry mob.
An
Al Jazeera reporter was held at knifepoint by a group of young men on
Thursday morning. One man’s face was still bloodied from the previous
night’s fighting.
Bloggers, too, have become targets: The popular Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey has reportedly been arrested (it’s unclear by who).