LIVE COVERAGE: Egyptian journalists protest storming of press syndicate in Cairo

The Journalists Syndicate is holding an emergency assembly to discuss escalatory measures in the current crisis

13:45 An Ahram Online reporter says that tens of prominent journalists are attending the general assembly meeting including state-owned Akhbar Al Youm's editor-in-chief Yasser Rizq and privately owned Al Shorouk newspaper editor-in-chief Emad El-Din Hussien.
13:40Thousands of Egyptian journalists are protesting outside the syndicate chanting “freedom, sit in till Abdel-Ghafar leaves, and raise your head high you are a journalist, break our siege,” in reference to their colleagues behind the police check points who have no Journalist Syndicate identification.
13:30 Karem Mahmoud, the deputy of the syndicate, told Ahram Online that the journalists' demand is clear -- the sacking of Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffer -- and that they will not give up on it. However, he continued to say that it is hard to understand why the government insists stubbornly on not correcting its mistake.
13:25 An Ahram Online reporter says that some journalists have decided to hold a sit-in until the Minister of Interior Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar is sacked.
13:02 An Ahram Online reporter says that at least 2000 journalists are currently protesting and chanting “Bread,Freedom, Strong Union,” a play on the famous revolutionary slogan, on the stairs of the syndicate. Former Presidential candidate and founder of Popular Current Party, as well as journalist, Hamdeen Sabbahi, also joined the protesters. The Journalists Syndicate staircase is considered to be a famous protest venue in Egypt since former president Hosni Mubarak's era.
12:48Tens of lawyers arrived at the Journalists Syndicate despite barricades on the roads leading to the building and tight security measures. The Lawyers Syndicate has already declared its full support for the Journalists Syndicate.Tens of journalists who are syndicate members managed to enter the syndicate.
Around 2,000 journalists gathered on Wednesday in front of the headquarters of their syndicate in downtown Cairo to defend the freedom of their union after police raided the building on Sunday to arrest two journalists who were staging a sit-in inside.
The board of the syndicate described the move as "unprecedented and unconstitutional."
Amr Badr and Mahmoud El-Sakka were among dozens of activists and journalists who were ordered to be arrested a few days before the 25 April protests against the recent Egyptian-Saudi Arabia Red Sea island agreement.
The prosecution ordered that the two be detained for 15 days pending investigation into charges of “plotting to overthrow the regime” and “spreading false news.”
The storming of the Journalists Syndicate caused outrage among journalists who started an open sit-in on Sunday demanding the resignation on the interior minister.
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