File:Photographers protest police harassment, Cairo 2007 - 003.jpg

English: Around 30 Egyptian photographers assembled today in front of Press Syndicate in downtown Cairo, to protest police assaults against them while covering demos, and to condemn the recent draconian decree by the Parliament Speaker to ban photographers from taking shots during sessions, after Al-Masry Al-Youm published a picture of PM Ahmad Nazif eating watermelon seeds while a parliamentary session was proceeding. The photographers laid down their cameras in one line on the floor, and sat in silence in front of them for an hour, carrying banners denouncing police brutality that read: “Our Cameras Expose Your Abuses.” The protestors were all Egyptians either working for foreign news wire services like AP, Reuters, DPA, or to independent publications like Al-Masry Al-Youm, Al-Wafd, Al-Osbou’, Sawt el-Umma, Al-Watani, Al-Karama, Al-Fagr, Al-Ahrar… and more interestingly, representatives from the state-owned publications also showed up including photographers from Al-Ahram, Al-Akhbar, Al-Gomhorriya, State Radio & TV Magazine, and the govt-owned Middle East News Agency. I was told after the demo was over that even a photographer from the NDP’s Al-Watani Al-Youm showed up!