Opposition supporters gathering before Friday prayers at Tahrir Square in Cairo yesterday to listen to Egyptian-born cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who says President Mubarak must stand down and leave Egypt. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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CAIRO - HAVING lived in Egypt for two years, I have heard a lot about the government security apparatus that routinely arrests, and sometimes roughs up, journalists for reporting on corruption as well as police brutality and the country's other open secrets.
But on Thursday, while covering the 10th day of anti-government protests in downtown Cairo, I had a first-hand look at the system of intimidation.
I was one of roughly two dozen journalists detained by security forces as part of a crackdown on foreign media coverage.
Around midday, I was taking photos of a burnt-out police van three blocks from Tahrir Square, the epicentre of Egypt's protest movement, when I was approached by a lone soldier cradling a machine gun.
He put his hands together and opened them like a book, the international symbol for 'Papers'. After glancing at my passport, he led me past rows of tanks and armoured personnel carriers, deep behind a perimeter set up around several key government buildings. What had appeared like a routine identity check was becoming something much more serious with each step.
At the command post, I was searched by several soldiers before one took the shirt I was wearing over my T-shirt, draped it over my head and tied it around my neck as an impromptu blindfold. (It was actually a pretty impressive feat of drapery, one that made me realise he'd had practice.)
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