"Definitely The Mood Has Changed"

Speaking on the phone to FP's Joshua Keating, correspondent Maryam Ishani gave one of the more vivid accounts of Wednesday's bloodshed:
Now, I'm basically stuck between what they've established as two cordons around Tahrir. One is established by pro-Mubarak demonstrators, whose job it is to keep people out of the square. That includes ambulances and anyone who's not on their side. You're trying to break Egypt." I went in to film them throwing stones and they knocked me back pretty hard, which is not the mood of the demonstrators inside the square.
The second cordon is also pro-Mubarak demonstrators, who are just beating up the demonstrators inside Tahrir. They have swords -- I'm not exaggerating -- they have things that look like machetes with a 12-inch blade or longer, sticks, pipes, automatic weapons.
It literally looks like their job is to just beat people up.

Ishani adds:
Those on the pro-Mubarak side are chanting Islamic slogans. Both sides are gearing up for a street fight on Friday. Definitely the mood has changed.
Clashes between supporters of Mubarak and anti-government protestors have killed at least three people and wounded some 600 hundred on Wednesday.
Video footage showed that Molotov cocktails and stones were hurled toward protestors in the square.
Kicking, beating, shoving, burning, and verbal fights started as pro- and anti-Mubarak protesters encountered in Tahrir Square, epicenter of the demonstration.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed his great concern Wednesday at the "unacceptable" violence in Egypt.
The United States has clarified its stance over the chaos in Egypt as President Barack Obama said the orderly transition in Egypt "must begin now."

Obama also reiterated US calls for restraint, stressing in the phone call that violence was unacceptable. Gibbs said that Obama received no word from Mubarak during the call that he planned to shift course on putting down mass demonstrations that until now have been peaceful.

Gibbs would not weigh in on who the US thought was responsible, but did say, “If any of the violence is instigated by the government it should stop immediately.

“The president and his administration strongly condemn the outrageous and deplorable violence that’s taken place on the streets of Cairo,” Gibbs said during his daily press briefing. Gibbs avoided describing what a future government of Egypt might look like, or whether it was acceptable to the US for Mubarak to preside over the transition to the next elections. Meanwhile, a Rasmussen poll conducted of 1,000 American citizens last week found that 70 percent thought the US government should avoid interfering in what’s happening in Egypt with only 7% arguing that America should help the current government.