'Day of departure' rally in Egypt

The BBC's Jim Muir in Tahrir Square: "The sense of imminent attack has eased and people are relaxing"

Tens of thousands of Egyptians are taking part in a "day of departure" to try to oust President Hosni Mubarak.
There is an increased army presence in Cairo's Tahrir Square after unrest that has led to hundreds of casualties.
After Friday prayers were held in a relaxed atmosphere, the crowd started chanting for Mr Mubarak to go.
Mr Mubarak has said he is "fed up" with being in power but is resisting mounting pressure to resign as he says it would leave Egypt in chaos.
In his first interview since anti-government protests began, he told ABC News he would like to resign immediately. But he repeated that the country's Islamist opposition - the Muslim Brotherhood - would fill the power vacuum left by his absence.
'Silent majority'


The BBC's Jim Muir in Tahrir Square says tens of thousands have now gathered there, although with the checkpoints the movement into the square is more a trickle than a flood.
The stronger army presence secured the perimeter and the soldiers appear to be on good terms with the protesters.
The demonstrators chanted: "The army and people are united."
Defence Minister General Mohamed Hussein Tantawi and other military leaders joined the armed forces in the square.
The secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, who has not ruled out standing for president, is also reported to be in Tahrir Square.
Thorough checks for weapons were carried out ahead of Friday prayers, during which one cleric praised the "revolution of the young" and declared: "We want the head of the regime removed."
Our correspondent says the mood is relaxed but it is not quite the carnival atmosphere that existed before Wednesday - when pro-Mubarak gangs attacked anti-government protesters - and people are watchful.
The BBC's Wyre Davies in Egypt's second city, Alexandria, says there are also many more tanks and soldiers out on the streets there than before.
Supporters of Mr Mubarak have been calling Friday a "day of allegiance".
The general secretary of the ruling NDP, Ibrahim Kamel, has accused the West of betraying Egypt.
He vowed President Mubarak would not step down and that soon millions of Egyptians - "the silent majority" - would come out on to the streets to protest because "enough is enough".
Egypt's health ministry says eight people have been killed and more than 800 injured in the clashes in recent days. The United Nations estimates that more than 300 people have died since the unrest broke out on 25 January, with about 4,000 hurt.
US efforts


Egypt's Vice-President Omar Suleiman has appealed for calm and urged the protesters to accept Mr Mubarak's pledge that he would not stand for election again.
But it has now emerged that the White House has been in talks with Mr Suleiman about how Egypt can begin making a "meaningful transition" to a democratic government.
US Vice-President Joe Biden spoke to his Egyptian counterpart on Thursday, say diplomats.
The New York Times suggested that among the proposals was a plan for Mr Mubarak to resign immediately and hand power to a military-backed interim government under Mr Suleiman.
Neither the White House nor the state department have directly denied the report.
But a spokesman for President Barack Obama's National Security Council said it was "time to begin a peaceful, orderly and meaningful transition, with credible, inclusive negotiations".
The BBC's Mark Mardell in Washington says other reports suggest the US plan has already been rebuffed in Egypt, and that the administration has been surprised by the attitude of the military and Mr Suleiman.
The reports say officials believe Mr Suleiman was aware of the apparent campaign in recent days to intimidate the opposition, and are now wondering whether he is the right man to lead an interim government, says our corresponden
On Friday, UK Prime Minister David Cameron criticised the Egyptian government for its handling of the crisis.
"The steps taken so far haven't met the aspirations of the Egyptian people," he said.
In his interview with ABC News, Mr Mubarak denied that his administration was behind the violence of the last two days but said it had troubled him.
Mr Mubarak was speaking in the presidential palace, with his son Gamal at his side.
"I never intended to run [for president] again," Mr Mubarak said. "I never intended Gamal to be president after me."

Why are reporters being attacked?

By Ashley Fantz, CNN

(CNN) -- Attacks against journalists send a message.

"It clearly conveys that the government is not in favor of democratic reforms because journalists represent free speech, and free speech is crucial to democracy," said Kelly McBride, a media ethics teacher at the Poynter Institute, a U.S.-based professional journalism training center and think tank.

"The point of silencing a journalist is to pull the curtain over what's happening," she said. "The other reason is to create fear, to intimidate other reporters."

Journalists from Egypt, Great Britain, the United States, India, Australia, Greece and other countries have reported being jumped, beaten, detained and interrogated this week while reporting on the uprising against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

At least one Swedish journalist was reportedly stabbed. One was marched back to her hotel at gunpoint. Many said their cameras and other equipment were smashed. A few are reportedly unaccounted for. First-hand accounts of the crackdown are lighting up Twitter. One of two correspondents from Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper tweeted a chilling timeline leading up to their apparent detainment.

In a one-day span, attacks on reporters included 30 detentions, 26 assaults and eight instances of equipment seized, and plainclothes and uniformed agents reportedly entered at least two hotels where international journalists were staying to confiscate media equipment, said the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based organization, on Thursday.

"Mubarak forces have attacked the very breadth of global journalism: Their targets have included Egyptians and other Arab journalists, Russian and U.S. reporters, Europeans and South Americans," CPJ said in a news release.

The Egyptian government has publicly criticized the violence and denied involvement, but on Thursday, Vice President Omar Suleiman said international TV reporters are part of the problem.

"I actually blame certain friendly nations who have television channels, they're not friendly at all, who have intensified the youth against the nation and the state," Suleiman said in a TV address.

"They have filled in the minds of the youth with wrongdoings, with allegations and this is unacceptable. ... They should have never done that. They should have never sent this enemy spirit."The attacks and harassment of journalists seem to be part of an organized effort, said State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley. In a tweet early Thursday, he said: "There is a concerted campaign to intimidate international journalists in Cairo and interfere with their reporting. We condemn such actions."

State Department officials told CNN they have information that Egypt's Interior Ministry was behind the journalist detentions, citing reports from the U.S. Embassy in Egypt.

But in an interview with CNN, Crowley stopped short of naming the people behind the violence and harassment. "I can't tell you who is directing it but with the increasing number of instances of people roughing up journalist(s), cars attacked, offices broken into, journalists detained, these do not seem to be random events," he said.

Crowley suggested the attackers' endgame is intimidation, to make reporters afraid to file stories about an anticipated increase in anti-Mubarak protesters likely to take to the streets this weekend.

The violence toward journalists in Egypt seems more brazen and systematic than in any recent conflict, said Mohamed Abdel Dayem of the CPJ. Since 1981, it has tracked attacks and deaths of reporters targeted for doing their jobs. The only conflict in recent times that compares to the current situation, Dayem said, is the Algerian civil war in the 1990s.

The high number of attacks in Egypt might be, in part, because there were already a large number of reporters working in Cairo bureaus before the protests against Mubarak began, McBride said. News organizations, at least until recently, considered Cairo a convenient and friendly base from which to travel to more hostile areas in Africa and the Middle East.

Of course, that doesn't lessen outrage right now about the way reporters are being treated. But will it matter a week from now, a month from now? Will it affect the outcome of the movement to democratize Egypt?"It's such a fast-moving story, it's impossible to know the answer now," said Barbara Cochran, a journalism professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. She was a vice president for news for National Public Radio and an executive producer of NBC's "Meet the Press."

She's covered several violent uprisings throughout her career, including China's Tiananmen Square protests in 1989."This is not like any other face-off between a regime that refuses to leave power and a people refusing to back down," she said.

"How it's covered, whether journalists will feel secure enough to cover it, will matter."Newer technology -- the Web, Twitter, Facebook, smaller and cheaper recording devices such as Flip Cams -- has liberated reporting in many ways, Cochran said. But it also made journalists easier targets.

"When I was working, you could get into a country, do the reporting and get out without anyone sending a tweet out about your presence," she said. "And there wasn't a huge rush to report immediately, as there is now with news agencies competing to be the first to report online what's happening."

The story in Egypt is also unique because the Egyptian government managed to shut off access to the internet, blocking information that bloggers might have provided.

Consider that without Twitter or other social media tools, 2009's popular protests against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over contested election results would have been largely underreported, McBride and Cochran said.

Foreign journalists were blocked from entering the country. Ultimately, Ahmadinejad remained in power."I thought Iran would (be the country) in my mind that hit rock bottom (in how it treated reporters), but what Mubarak is doing is unspeakable," said Dayem.

In denying that the Egyptian government is behind the violence, Mubarak told ABC News on Thursday that the Muslim Brotherhoodis to blame.

But there are other regions where sustained violence toward journalists has been raging for years, and little change has come of it. In Mexico, for instance, cartel violence continues despite the disappearance or death of more than 30 reporters since 2006, CPJ reported.Egypt, perhaps, seems different to Western audiences, said McBride.

"Cairo resonates with us. It's an ally, tourism is big there. Most people considered it safe. I think part of why this story has captivated an audience is because they are saying, 'This is not the Egypt I thought I knew.' "

Protesters in Cairo vow to continue demonstrations

By the CNN Wire Staff


Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Demonstrators have built a barbed-wire barricade and stacked piles of rocks throughout Cairo's Tahrir Square Friday, where they gathered to demand President Hosni Mubarak's resignation.


Military forces surrounded the square, and anti-government protesters manned their own security checkpoints, which included numerous blockades. The stream of demonstrators entering the square was steady at midday.


As midday prayers ended, anti-government protesters chanted, "He leaves, we don't leave" and "The blood of the martyrs will not be forgotten."


Anti-government protesters have pledged to bring droves of demonstrators to the square Friday for what they dubbed a "day of farewell" and "day of departure," referring to their push for Mubarak to resign. Elsewhere in Cairo, pro-government protesters said they were gathering in a mosque for a "day of loyalty."


But the pro-Mubarak groups were notably absent from Tahrir Square, where they clashed with anti-government protesters earlier this week.


In the northern port city of Alexandria, the streets leading to the Al Kaed Ibrahim mosque were packed as the midday sermon began.


"This is a great revolution and the whole regime, the entire system needs to be changed. The revolution must continue until all objectives are met," the mosque's imam told the crowd.


Writing on the walls leading to the mosque, where police and anti-government demonstrators clashed last Friday, said "Game OVER" and "Pharaoh's last day."There was very little military presence in Alexandria, but troops wearing riot gear toted automatic weapons near Cairo's Tahrir Square.


Security forces detained some people leaving the square, pointing guns at them and forcing them to lie on the ground early Friday. A burned-out car and a group of troops blocked the October 6 bridge, which crosses the Nile River and serves as an entrance to the square.


The anti-government protests were scheduled to start after Friday prayers, and some demonstrators suggested the group may march toward the presidential palace.


Mubarak is not gone, but his days are numbered. The leader agreed Tuesday to not seek re-election in September.In the bloody blur of days since his announcement that he would not stand for re-election, regime foes and supporters have clashed repeatedly in Tahrir Square, the center of anti-government demonstrations. Eight people have been killed and nearly 896 injured, according to the health ministry.


The atmosphere Friday morning was peaceful and optimistic, but tense. Some anti-government demonstrators smiled as they sang patriotic songs. Exhausted protesters slept on sidewalks inside the square. A man with an Egyptian flag wrapped around his head sat on a curb, flashing a victory sign.


A handful of pro-government protesters cheered as large vans filled with security forces arrived at Tahrir Square around 6 a.m. Friday (11 p.m. ET). It was unclear whether those inside were members of the military or police.


Mubarak told ABC News Thursday he would like to step down right away, but cannot because he does not want to risk plunging his nation into chaos.Vice President Omar Suleiman blamed the media for some of the unrest that has plagued his country since anti-government demonstrations began January 25.


"I actually blame certain friendly nations who have television channels, they are not friendly at all, who have intensified the youth against the nation and the state," Suleiman told Nile TV. "They have filled in the minds of the youth with wrongdoings, with allegations, and this is unacceptable."


Thursday saw an escalation of attacks on journalists covering the demonstrations. Many of those targeted asked whether the government was clearing them out of the way to cloak its actions.


"Why doesn't the government want us around? What is it that it plans to do in the next few days that it really doesn't want cameras to be able to report on?" New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof told CNN.
Mubarak told ABC News correspondent Christiane Amanpour that he was troubled by the bloody clashes that broke out Wednesday in Tahrir Square.


As the United States and other countries condemned increasing attacks on journalists and diplomats, Mubarak rejected the notion that government instigated the violence in the country, instead blaming the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist umbrella group that is banned in Egypt.


"I don't care what people say about me," Mubarak told ABC. "Right now I care about my country, I care about Egypt.


"I was very unhappy about yesterday. I do not want to see Egyptians fighting each other," he said in the interview, which was conducted at the heavily guarded presidential palace, where the embattled leader has been staying with his family.


Mubarak said he never intended to seek re-election or for his son, Gamal, to seek the post. He made the comment to Amanpour in his son's presence.Mubarak's concession that he would not run for re-election has not been enough for tens of thousands of protesters demanding immediate change.


Top government leaders vowed to hold accountable perpetrators of the bloodshed and told protesters to return home."I want to thank the youth for all you have done," Suleiman said on state-run Nile TV. "You are the lights that have ignited reform in this period. Please give the (government a) chance to play its role. All of your demands have been met."


Suleiman told ABC that Egyptian troops will not force anti-Mubarak protesters to leave Tahrir Square.


Mubarak supporters, some believed to be paid government thugs, converged with anti-government crowds Wednesday in a confrontation that quickly evolved into continuing mayhem in Tahrir Square.Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq apologized repeatedly for the violence. He blamed infiltrators and a "complete disappearance" of police for the human toll in the "catastrophe."


Shafiq said he and Suleiman were meeting with the opposition -- including protesters in Tahrir Square. He said no one would be excluded from the national dialogue, including the Muslim Brotherhood.


The United States is stepping up pressure on the opposition to begin immediate negotiations with the Egyptian government."It's time for both of them to roll up their sleeves," a senior State Department official told CNN. "The government has to take some steps, but the opposition has to be willing to participate in negotiations as well."

Journalists report second day of detentions, harassment in Cairo

By the CNN Wire Staff

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Journalists attempting to cover unprecedented unrest in Egypt reported being targeted, beaten, arrested and harassed by security forces and police for a second day Thursday.


Al Jazeera released a statement demanding that three of its journalists, detained by Egyptian security forces, be released. A fourth has been reported missing, the network said.The Washington Post reported, citing multiple witnesses, that its Cairo bureau chief, Leila Fadel, and photographer Linda Davidson were among two journalists arrested Thursday morning by the Egyptian Interior Ministry. The Post later said on its blog that Fadel had called to say she and Davidson were released, but the two were separated from Sufian Taha, their translator and a longtime Post employee, and their Egyptian driver, Mansour el-Sayed Mohammed Abo Gouda. The two men were unaccounted for, the Post said.


The New York Times reported Thursday that two of its reporters had been released after being detained overnight in Cairo.Others said their gear had been confiscated. And the BBC tweeted Thursday, "Egyptian security seize BBC equipment at Cairo Hilton in attempt to stop us broadcasting."


"Gear taken at hotel for its own security," one photojournalist posted online. "... See if we get it back."U.S. State Department officials told CNN they have information that Egypt's Interior Ministry was behind the journalist detentions, citing reports from the U.S. Embassy in Egypt. Department officials were expected to discuss the issue with the Egyptian Embassy in Washington and the Foreign Ministry in Cairo.


Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the attacks and harassment of journalists seem to be part of an organized effort, but it was unclear who was directing it. "I don't think these are random attacks," he told reporters."There is a concerted campaign to intimidate international journalists in Cairo and interfere with their reporting," Crowley posted earlier Thursday on Twitter. "We condemn such actions."


A photojournalist for CNN-IBN, Rajesh Bhardwaj, was detained in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the site of bloody clashes between supporters and opponents of President Hosni Mubarak. He was taken away by the Egyptian Army and later released, but only after his identification card and tapes were destroyed, said Suhasini Haidar, CNN-IBN deputy foreign editor.


The Indian Ministry of External Affairs was advising Indian journalists in Egypt to avoid trouble spots.Other journalists reported being beaten and harassed by protesters."Situation on ground in Egypt very tense," CNN's Anderson Cooper tweeted Thursday. "Vehicle I was in attacked. My window smashed. All OK."


The Greek daily newspaper Kathimerini said one of its reporters, Petros Papaconstantinou, was beaten by protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Papaconstantinou was clubbed in the head with a baton and stabbed in the foot, either with a knife or a screwdriver, said Xenia Kounalaki, head of the newspaper's foreign desk. A photographer also sustained minor injuries, Kounalaki said, and both were treated at a Cairo hospital and released.


Other journalists reported close calls. Marie Colvin of the Sunday Times of London said she was approached by a gang of men with knives in Imbaba, a poor neighborhood of Cairo. Another group of men, who also were strangers to her, pushed her into a store and locked it to protect her, she said.


In addition, several human rights groups reported their representatives had been detained.The Hisham Mubarak Law Center, a human rights law firm, was taken over by military police, as was the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, Oxfam International said in a statement. A total of eight people were detained, including the directors of both centers, the organization said.


Oxfam said several of its staff members were among those detained. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch each said one of their researchers was detained at the law center. They were interrogated before being taken away to an unknown location in Cairo, Human Rights Watch said. All three groups called for the immediate release of their staffers.


Al Jazeera said Thursday that six of its journalists had been detained by Egyptian authorities in the past week, with equipment stolen and destroyed. "It has also faced unprecedented levels (of) interference in its broadcast signal across the Arab world," the network said in a statement.U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attacks.


"The freedom of speech, whether journalists or demonstrators -- they should be fully guaranteed and protected. That is a ground principle of democracy," he said.


Meanwhile, Shahira Amin, a reporter for Egypt's state-run Nile TV, resigned Thursday."I spent the day at Nile TV yesterday," she told CNN. "I was only allowed to air the pro-Mubarak rallies that were going on, as if nothing was happening at Tahrir Square. We weren't allowed to reveal any figures. There was a near total blackout," she said, calling it "hypocritical ... I just don't want to be part of it."


She said she should have resigned "ages ago. ... I was happy to spend the day in Tahrir Square where the people are. ... I am on their side."


"People are too scared to tell the truth," she said. "There is a built-in or inherent feeling that many Egyptian journalists have because of (the threat of) detention and arrest."She added, "I haven't been intimidated all these years. I have been telling the truth. I managed to get away with it until now. This time around, I just couldn't tell the truth, so I just walked out."


Journalists were also targeted on Wednesday, with some beaten, bloodied, harassed and detained by men, most of them apparently aligned in some way with Mubarak.Numerous news outlets -- including the BBC, ABC News and CNN -- reported members of their staffs had been attacked, mostly on the streets of Cairo. In several cases, news personnel were accused of being "foreign spies," seized, whisked away, and often assaulted.


Fox News reported Thursday that a reporter and cameraman, forced to flee their position after a Molotov cocktail ignited a fire, ran into pro-Mubarak protesters and were so severely beaten they spent the night in a hospital before being released Thursday.


"It was pandemonium. There was no control. Suddenly a man would come up to you and punch you in the face," said CNN's Cooper, describing being attacked by pro-Mubarak demonstrators along with two colleagues outside of Tahrir Square.


CNN's Hala Gorani got caught Wednesday morning in a stampede of demonstrators, some of whom were riding on camels and horses."I got slammed against the gates and was threatened by one of the pro-Mubarak protesters who was ... telling me to 'get out, get out!'" Gorani said. "The pro-Mubaraks, whoever they are, whoever sent them, are being threatening toward camera crews, journalists, anybody who looks like they may be onlookers."


A BBC correspondent, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, and his crew were "arrested by members of the secret police" on Wednesday after interviewing a presidential adviser, the BBC reported. They were later released, the network said.The Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news network was among the worst hit, with its office damaged and several of its staff targeted. Among them was correspondent Ahmed Abdullah, who his editor confirmed Wednesday was found bloodied after being severely beaten by his captors. He was transported to a hospital,


Maurice Sarfatti told the Brussels-based Le Soir newspaper, which he writes for along with publications in Switzerland and France, that he "received a stream of blows to the face" from men claiming he backed leading opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei."I am being guarded by two soldiers with Kalashnikovs (rifles) and bayonets," said Sarfatti, according to a translation from Le Soir. "They say I will be taken before the intelligence services. They say I am a spy."


The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based advocacy organization, claimed that such accounts were all too commonplace around Cairo.In a news release, the group detailed about a dozen incidents, accusing men -- most of them described as pro-Mubarak demonstrators, "plainclothes police," uniformed officers and military -- of perpetrating attacks on reporters seen with cameras and notepads.


The group laid the blame for this violence squarely on Mubarak's administration, accusing it of scheming to suppress and stifle news coverage."The Egyptian strategy is employing a strategy of eliminating witnesses to their actions," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, the committee's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. "The government has resorted to blanket censorship, intimidation and, today, a series of deliberate attacks on journalists carried out by pro-government mobs."

Mubarak tells ABC his resignation would cause chaos

By the CNN Wire Staff

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday blamed the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood for the violence unfolding in Cairo and said he would like to step down right away, but cannot because he does not want to risk plunging his nation into chaos, ABC News reported.
Mubarak told ABC correspondent Christiane Amanpour that he was troubled by the bloody clashes that broke out Wednesday in Tahrir Square, the center of anti-government demonstrations.
As the United States and other countries condemned increasing attacks on journalists and diplomats, Mubarak rejected the notion that government instigated the violence, instead blaming the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist umbrella group that is banned in Egypt.
"I don't care what people say about me," Mubarak told ABC. "Right now I care about my country, I care about Egypt."I was very unhappy about yesterday. I do not want to see Egyptians fighting each other," he said in the interview, which was conducted at the heavily guarded presidential palace where the embattled leader has been staying with his family.


Mubarak told ABC that U.S. President Barack Obama is a very good man but bristled at the notion of an ally's interference in internal problems. He said he told Obama: "You don't understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now."


Obama has said he told Mubarak a transition must take place, and it "must be meaningful, it must be peaceful and it must begin now."


Mubarak said he never intended to seek re-election. Nor did he intend his son, Gamal, who was believed to be groomed as Mubarak's successor, to seek the post. He made the comment to Amanpour in his son's presence.\


Vice President Omar Suleiman, tapped as Mubarak's vice president last Saturday, publicly announced Thursday that Gamal Mubarak will not stand in September elections.


Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt for three decades, announced his decision to not run again last week. But that concession has not been enough for tens of thousands of protesters demanding immediate change.


His regime moved Thursday to quell the deadly revolt, telling protesters their demands had been met and cracking down on journalists and human rights activists bearing witness to the crisis.


All day long, Mubarak's supporters and foes clashed again to retain control of Tahrir Square, the central city plaza that has become the symbol of the 10-day Egyptian uprising. Many looked like medieval warriors, toting handcrafted shields while throwing stones and other objects.


Top government leaders vowed to hold accountable perpetrators of the bloodshed and told protesters to return home."I want to thank the youth for all you have done," Suleiman said on state-run Nile TV. "You are the lights that have ignited reform in this period. Please give the (government a) chance to play its role. All of your demands have been met."


Mubarak supporters, some believed to be paid government thugs, converged with anti-government crowds Wednesday in a confrontation that quickly evolved into continuing mayhem in Tahrir Square. At least eight people were killed and 836 injured, including 200 wounded within one hour Thursday morning, according to the health ministry.


Journalists covering the crisis also became targets -- beaten, bloodied, harassed and detained by men, most all in some way aligned with Mubarak.Numerous news outlets -- including the BBC, ABC News, the Washington Post and CNN -- reported members of their staffs had either been attacked or arrested. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch also reported that staffers were detained.
In several cases, news personnel were accused of being "foreign spies," seized, whisked away, and often assaulted.


"The Egyptian government is employing a strategy of eliminating witnesses to their actions," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem of the Committee to Protect Journalists."The government has resorted to blanket censorship, intimidation, and today a series of deliberate attacks on journalists carried out by pro-government mobs," he said. "The situation is frightening not only because our colleagues are suffering abuse but because when the press is kept from reporting, we lose an independent source of crucial information."


The U.S. State Department publicly condemned the crackdown on journalists, and officials told CNN they have received reports that Egypt's Interior Ministry was involved.


Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called such attacks "a violation of international norms that guarantee freedom of the press, and it is unacceptable in any circumstances."


Increasingly concerned about the potential for further violence, Clinton called on the government, political parties and others to immediately begin talks "on a peaceful and orderly transition."


The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain also urged a "rapid and peaceful transition," and the European Union foreign affairs chief, Catherine Ashton, called on Mubarak to act "as quickly as possible."


Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq apologized repeatedly for the violence. He blamed infiltrators and a "complete disappearance" of police for the human toll in the "catastrophe."


"This group got in and some clashes happened," Shafiq said, adding that he would look into whether the violence was part of an organized attempt to disband the opposition.


Suleiman said Thursday that unrest has done massive economic damage to the country."Unfortunately, the economic losses every day, I cannot estimate but it's going to have a huge impact in the future," he said. "Continuing with this strike is continuing with the paralysis of the state."A million tourists have left Egypt in the past three days, Suleiman said.


The government froze the bank accounts of former leaders and imposed a travel ban that restricts them from exiting the country, state-run television said. The travel ban will remain in effect "until national security is restored and the authorities and monitoring bodies have undergone their investigations," Nile TV said.


Among the leaders facing the punitive measures is Habib Adli, former minister of the interior, which oversees Egypt's police forces.Earlier, the sound of sustained gunfire echoed through central Cairo. The military maneuvered to separate the two sides but in the afternoon, in parts of the square, the soldiers were nowhere to be seen.Shafiq appealed to his compatriots, especially Egypt's youth, to show patience as the government's leadership goes through the transitional period.


"It has great meaning not to hurt each other, hurt our reputation," he said. "Do they want what happened in Tunisia to happen here?" Shafiq said, referring to the revolt in Tunisia that led to the ouster of the nation's longtime strongman in January and served as inspiration for other nations in the region that have seen similar demonstrations.


Shafiq said he and Suleiman were meeting with the opposition -- including protesters in Tahrir Square. He said no one would be excluded from the national dialogue, including the Muslim Brotherhood.But spokesman Essam El-Erian said the Muslim Brotherhood will not participate in talks with the regime."We refuse to sit with him," El-Erian said Thursday, referring to Suleiman.


Other key opposition groups have also rejected meeting invitations, including the secular liberal Wafd Party and the Al-Ghad party, led by former presidential candidate Ayman Nour.


In the nation's second-largest city of Alexandria, some signs of normality could be seen Thursday as trams returned to the streets for the first time in days.


A group of fishermen said they wanted life to get back to normal, and one Mubarak supporter said the protests in Cairo were humiliating.

Protests start in Yemen, despite concession from president

From Mohammed Jamjoom, CNN

Sanaa,Yemen (CNN) -- What seemed like hundreds of anti-government protesters gathered near Sanaa University in Yemen's capital early Thursday morning, a clear indication that many in the country were not satisfied with President Ali Abdullah Saleh's recent announcement that he would not seek re-election.
Protesters of all ages chanted and held signs with messages against poverty and the government. Some proclaimed that Saleh needed to step down.
As the protest quickly grew, there was very litte visible security in the area.
Demonstrators had said they would continue Thursday with a planned "Day of Rage" march in Yemen despite Saleh's concession on Wednesday.
Trying to quell a growing discontent in the country, Saleh said he will not seek re-election once his current term ends in 2013, after more than three decades in office.
Saleh also said he won't install his son to replace him. He has asked his political opponents "to re-engage in dialogue in hopes of reaching a sustainable and reconcilable political agreement," the Yemeni government said.
Thursday's protest come amidst a similar ongoing unrest in Egypt and a revolt in Tunisia that forced that nation's longtime strongman to flee to Saudi Arabia in mid-January.
King Abdullah of Jordan, meanwhile, has sacked his government and appointed a new prime minister in the face of protests there.
In Yemen, Saleh had called an emergency parliamentary meeting ahead of Thursday's protests.
The protests -- which have also caught on to various extents in Algeria and Sudan -- have proved to be "a real watershed event for the Arab world," said Blake Hounshell, managing editor of Foreign Policy magazine. "It's really unprecedented."

Saleh has been in office for 32 years and was last re-elected in 2006.

Day of uncertainty begins with gunfire in Egypt

By the CNN Wire Staff

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- In a way, the events of the past week may have been a prelude to what could happen in Egypt on Thursday.
The military, which has until now said it would not use force on peaceful demonstrators, has urged anti-government protesters to return home. And supporters of embattled President Hosni Mubarak, who had been largely silent since the unrest began, came out in full force Wednesday, in one case wielding whips and thundering through the crowd on horses and camels.
As dawn broke Thursday, heavy gunfire reverberated in central Cairo as the two sides continued to face off at Tahrir Square -- the confrontations portending what awaits when Egypt awakes.
Egypt's minister of health said the number of injuries in Cairo's Tahrir Square has reached 829 -- including 200 within one hour on Thursday morning, state-run Nile TV reported. The minister also said four people were killed in Tahrir Square on Thursday morning.

CNN could not independently verify the figures.
A national security official in U.S. President Barack Obama's administration told CNN that the situation in the country could "turn really ugly" and the next 24 to 48 hours will be critical.
"Will the military continue to act responsibly? Or will it fracture?" said the official, who has been involved in Egypt deliberations. "Will Mubarak get it that the writing is on the wall and that he has to transition out quicker? Not sure anyone has the answers."
Meanwhile, chunks of concretes and Molotov cocktails flew in Tahrir Square during the escalating crisis Thursday.
The wounded were being carried into the square, largely held by anti-regime demonstrators, through an entrance that leads to the nearby Egyptian Museum. Several ambulances entered and left the square shortly before 4 a.m. Thursday.
The source of the gunfire was not immediately known.
Another U.S. official said the administration's conversations with Egyptian officials have turned tense and urgent -- with the U.S. side voicing hope the military will see the reality and pressure Mubarak to step down.
While the official was encouraged by signs that the military was not involved in the violence that broke out Wednesday, allowing such fights between supporters and opponents of Mubarak to go on "could fairly be interpreted as a choice, and a troubling choice."
This official voiced hope that "as time passes, the military will see which side it wants to be on for the good of the country and the society."
Some chanted a prayer Thursday after a day of violent street battles in central Cairo. People also shouted, "No one hurt anyone."

Sustained fire from automatic weapons, including from what sounded like a heavy machine gun, echoed around the square, the epicenter of nine days of protests calling for Mubarak's ouster.
Anti-government demonstrators hunkered down behind makeshift barricades in the square and outside the nearby national museum against the onslaught, which demonstrators said included plainclothes police officers.
"They're coming in with weapons. They're spreading violence," human rights activist Gigi Ibrahim told CNN on Wednesday. "We've had peaceful protests here since Friday and no violence here. Only today were we faced with this really violent reaction."
The pro-government protesters were not impeded by the army when they entered the square Thursday. Anti-regime protesters are now unhappy with troops -- whose commanders had promised Monday not to use force against peaceful demonstrations -- for standing by, he said.
Small fires burned in the square early Thursday, with some spreading to trees and walls.
Reported fatalities in the first eight days of demonstrations ranged as high as 300, but CNN could not independently confirm the death toll.
In one surreal moment, whip-wielding Mubarak supporters thundered through the crowd astride horses and camels, and at least one man was pulled off his mount and beaten. A Mubarak supporter who spoke to CNN said the riders were pyramid workers who were protesting the negative economic impact of the crisis.
"What you are seeing is the demonstration of the real Egyptian people who are trying to take back their country, trying to take back their street," said businessman Khaled Ahmed, who described himself as "pro-Egyptian."
But some observers said the pro-Mubarak push Wednesday was likely orchestrated by a regime bent on breaking up peaceful demonstrations.
"These are tactics that are well-known in Egypt," Michele Dunne, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told CNN's John King.
Robert Kagan of the Brookings Institution said the "rent-a-thugs" were likely sanctioned and paid by the government. This is meant to create an image of chaos so the government can move in to restore order, he said.
"Mubarak has -- now, certainly, with the violence today, but even before that -- lost the confidence of the overwhelming number of the Egyptian people," Kagan said.
Desperate for more ammunition, they dismantled sidewalks and picked up chunks of concrete They beat each other in what rapidly spiraled into utter mayhem.
Hundreds of injured people were treated by doctors and medical staff, who turned to volunteers for assistance.
CNN iReporter Hunter Moore, 26, helped treat the wounded. The U.S. schoolteacher said Tuesday's crowds at Tahrir Square were mostly peaceful. "It went downhill really, really quickly" on Wednesday, he told CNN.
It was unclear whether such confrontations were being repeated elsewhere. Other Cairo neighborhoods were calm, and rallies in Egypt's second-largest city, Alexandria, were largely peaceful.
Mubarak's opponents had stood shoulder to shoulder in Tahrir Square to call for his immediate resignation in a massive rally on Tuesday. The 82-year-old president's announcement that night that he would spend the remaining seven months of his current term working to ensure a "peaceful transition of power" failed to satisfy them, and they vowed to keep up the pressure on him to resign.
The crisis has paralyzed the Egyptian economy, as the government has closed banks, idled trains and shuttered schools. Markets are running short of basic food staples, and the situation is hurting the ability of ordinary citizens to join the demonstrations, opposition activist Ziad Aly told CNN.
"We can't get enough bread. We can't get enough food supplies," he said.
Vice President Omar Suleiman reiterated the government stance that the people have been heard, that they should go home and that they should stop demonstrating. Protesters should respect the curfew and "enable people to return to their jobs and their daily lives, and to allow schools and universities to reopen," he said in a statement.
The state-run television network, Nile TV, sought to portray the unrest as a "foreign conspiracy" fueled by international journalists, several of whom -- including CNN's Anderson Cooper -- were attacked during Wednesday's clashes.
Despite reports that shots had been fired, Nile TV's reporters denied any shooting had taken place or even that violence had broken out in Tahrir Square. The network also said that members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood were heading to the square "to throw balls of fire and to start acts of riots and violence."
When asked if that were true, Mohamed Morsy, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, said the action came from all segments of the Egyptian people, "not the Muslim Brotherhood only."
Morsy told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that the time for change is now, not when Mubarak's term ends.
"We need a new era, a new regime," Morsy said. "We have a constitution."
Asked whether Suleiman could lead the government until new elections, Morsy said the head of the country's supreme court should fulfill that role.
Mubarak's government bluntly told outsiders to mind their own business.
"Our interactions within our country are Egyptian affairs and nothing more than that," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said. Egypt "will continue to be a beacon of moderation and stability in our region," he said, but its people must settle their differences without "intervention from the outside."
Though Mubarak's concessions were large and remarkable for a man who has held a tight grip on power for three decades, it was too little, too late for many Egyptians.
"He is unfortunately going to continue the agony for another six or seven months," opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei said Tuesday night.
However, Mubarak supporter Waleed Tawfik told CNN that not all Egyptians agree that Mubarak should step down immediately.
"Change will not happen overnight. There's not a magical button for change. Change will take time," he said.
The Egyptian army can't sit on the sidelines too much longer, or it could risk unraveling, one foreign policy expert said.
The army needs to pick a course of action by Friday, when more mass protests are expected after prayers, Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, told CNN's "Parker Spitzer."

The Egyptian crisis is among the aftershocks of the revolt in Tunisia that forced that nation's longtime strongman to flee to Saudi Arabia in January. In Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh -- who has been in office for 32 years -- said Wednesday he will not run for president nor hand over power to his son once his term ends in 2013.