As protests in Egypt against President Hosni Mubarak enter their tenth day, protesters supporting Mubarak have attacked foreign media outlets and crews covering the protests.

Watchers attribute this to a sense among pro-Mubarak demonstrators that foreign media, including Western broadcasters, are excessively critical of their current regime.

Kahrir Square in downtown Cairo descended into chaos on Wednesday local time, as pro-and anti-Mubarak Egyptians engaged in bloody confrontations throughout the night throwing rocks and petrol bombs at one another.

Amid the fighting, pro-Mubarak protesters opened hostilities to the foreign journalists who were attempting to cover the protests. Alarabya TV reported that the Mubarak supporters also invaded a Cairo hotel to hunt down foreign reporters.

“The Committee to Protect Journalists” said that 24 reporters were detained Thursday, including journalists from The Washington Post and The New York Times. Journalists from South Korea have also been assaulted. Two Egypt correspondents for Yonhap News Agency were attacked by some ten youths while covering the situation near the square that day. A local camera man working for Korean TV network SBS was also beaten by pro-government protesters.

The Associated Press said that a journalist from Greece was stabbed in the leg with a screwdriver, and a photographer was punched in the face and his equipment was smashed.