Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns the arrests and physical attacks that journalists suffered while covering demonstrations yesterday and today in various Egyptian cities. The authorities have been doing everything possible to keep the media at a distance in order prevent the circulation of images of protesters demanding President Hosni Mubarak's departure. No TV station was able to film yesterday's big protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
The authorities began jamming mobile phone communications early yesterday afternoon in places where protesters had gathered in Cairo. Representatives of the Vodafone and Mobile Nile phone companies today denied any involvement in the disruption of service, blaming the Egyptian authorities.
The social-networking website Twitter and the livestreaming service Bambuser.com were both blocked yesterday afternoon. The hashtag #jan25, referring to protest, was widely used on Twitter yesterday.
Access to Facebook was intermittently blocked today, with the degree of blocking varying from one ISP to another. Egyptian dissidents and civil society groups have been using Facebook for years to disseminate information and organize protests, including the 6 April 2009 strike.
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