Morale is high ... the world is watching

It's eerily quiet this morning. People are nervous, mainly because there are no journalists in the area.

Pro-Mubarak thugs who materialised two days ago, wielding whips on camel back, started a campaign of fear targeted at foreigners and the press. Citing the latest government line, they say the protests have been driven by extremist foreign infiltrators.

There have been numerous reports of members of the press being beaten, arrested and in some cases stabbed. Foreigners caught in the street have been attacked. Yobs on motorcycles cruise through the city picking out people who don't look Egyptian.

Most embassies have called their citizens home. Thugs and what appeared to be government security forces yesterday surrounded the Hilton Ramses, a media hub, and confiscated all camera equipment. Journalists were warned to stay out of the square.

I have been in hiding, avoiding windows and keeping quiet. My base downtown is around the corner from Tahrir Square and occasionally the stronghold for the pro-Mubarak group. Early this morning my Egyptian friends, who were bringing supplies to protesters, sneaked me out. I only feel safe once I'm in the square.

Yesterday saw unprecedented violence. It came after a supposedly spontaneous crowd of pro-Mubarak protesters stormed the square. The army, who usually act as peacekeepers, stood by and did nothing.

No one could get out -women, children and the elderly were stuck in the centre of a warzone. It soon became clear that these pro-Mubarak protesters were either plain-clothed policemen or had been paid by the government. "The scene is horrific," said Mona, a 24-year-old Egyptian based at a field hospital one street from the square (in normal life she's a cancer researcher). "We don't have any weapons, we have rocks. People are tearing up cars to use as shields. We can't leave, we can't move the injured."

Mona comes from three generations of activists. Her father, a human rights lawyer, was in prison for protesting against Mubarak when she was born - and was arrested yesterday. The makeshift medical centre has been overwhelmed with injured protesters, some with bullet wounds.

The square is extremely organised. Each entrance is guarded with makeshift barricades. Amid all this there are families sitting on picnic blankets and people huddled around campfires. After 11 days of protesting, morale is still high. Friends abroad send messages to the demonstrators via Twitter. They know the world is watching. What will happen, nobody is quite certain.