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News organisations warn of danger to reporters from Mubarak supporters as violence escalates in Egyptian capital Journalists from the BBC, al-Jazeera, and other Arab news organisations were today facing fresh attacks from pro-government “thugs” after an escalation of violence in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, overnight. Reporters from a number of media organisations, including CNN’s Anderson Cooper and the BBC’s Jerome Boehm, were targeted yesterday and earlier today as supporters of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak continued their attacks against anti-government protesters. Western broadcasters, including ITN and the BBC, today joined the Arabic networks in warning about the running battles taking place in and around Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Jonathan Munro, the deputy editor of ITV News, told the Guardian that the safety of its reporters was at the “forefront of all our minds” in discussions on how to cover the protests. “Whenever we work in a volatile region, we take safety very seriously,” he said. Channel 4 News reported today that Mubarak’s “secret police” were threatening journalists to keep away from the streets of Cairo. Jonathan Rugman, Channel 4 News’s foreign correspondent, tweeted earlier today : “One journalist punched in face, another stabbed in leg by pro-Mubarak thugs in Cairo this morning. On their way to hospital now.” Jon Snow, the broadcaster’s chief news anchor, added : “Media hotel [is] suffering Mubarak thugs attacking all our attempts to get out to report.” Reuters said one of its television crews was beaten up early today close to Tahrir Square while filming a piece about shops and banks being forced to shut during the clashes. David Degner, a Cairo-based photographer, said five of his journalist friends has been ” beaten and had their equipment confiscated ” as clashes between the two groups escalated. Press freedom groups warn that reporting on the Egyptian uprising is becoming increasingly perilous as the number of journalists injured and arrested continues to rise. “Starting yesterday we saw a surge phase in attacks against journalists,” said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Middle East and North Africa programme co-ordinator. “This is like a return to the first phase, before the censorship, but far more violent and universal. They are now targeting anybody with a camera, notepad, anybody interviewing people – anyone will get violently attacked, anyone they could get their hands on. If you’re a journalist in Egypt at this late stage in the game, they don’t care if you’re from Mars – they’re going to come after you.” Munro, who has ITV News colleagues reporting from Cairo’s Tahrir Square, said: “When deciding who to send to Egypt, we chose some of our most experienced reporters, producers and cameramen, and asked one of our senior news editors to run the operation there. “They are all used to operating in difficult conditions. Their safety is the first thing we consider when we’re looking at the day’s newsgathering, and it remains at the forefront of all our minds as we discuss how to cover the moving story.” Arabic language news channels al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya appear to have suffered some of the worst of the attacks. Pro-government protesters charged the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news network’s Cairo office yesterday afternoon. Several of its staff were left bloodied and beaten in the assault, and its correspondent Ahmed Abdullah had to be taken to a nearby hospital with severe head injuries. Dan Nolan, al-Jazeera’s United Arab Emirates correspondent, said the there was ” so much anti-Jazeera sentiment ” among the president’s supporters that it was “not safe to be outside” for the broadcaster’s reporters. Cooper, CNN’s star reporter based in Cairo, described how he was “roughed up by thugs” late yesterday in the pro-Mubarak crowd. “It was pandemonium. There was no control. Suddenly a man would come up to you and punch you in the face,” he said . Cooper’s CNN colleague, Hala Gorani, today recounted the incident: “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!’. The pro-Mubaraks, whoever they are, whoever sent them, are being threatening toward camera crews, journalists, anybody who looks like they may be onlookers.” The leaders of France, Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain today said they view the “deterioration” of the situation in Egypt with “extreme concern”. The attacks on foreign media, which have mostly taken place in and around Cairo’s Tahrir Square, were “unacceptable”, the leaders added in a joint statement. •