Cairo ? Menacing gangs backing President Hosni Mubarak attacked journalists and human rights activists Thursday in an ugly turn in Egypt’s crisis as government opponents pushed supporters out of Cairo’s main square in a second day of battles. Organizers called for protesters trying to topple the regime to fill every square in the huge capital today.

The new vice president, widely considered the first successor Mubarak has ever designated, fueled anti-foreign sentiment by going on state television and blaming outsiders for fomenting unrest. The government has accused media outlets of being sympathetic to protesters who want the president to quit now rather than serve out his term, as he has vowed to do.

Mubarak, 82, told ABC television in an interview that he was fed up and wants to resign. But he said he can’t for fear the country would sink into chaos. He said he was very unhappy about the two days of clashes in central Tahrir Square.

“I do not want to see Egyptians fighting each other,” he was quoted as saying.

The violence that had been concentrated in Tahrir spread around the city of 18 million, with a new wave of arson and looting.

Soldiers, mainly protecting government buildings and important institutions, remained passive as they have since replacing police on the streets almost a week ago. Few uniformed police have been seen around the city in that time, and protesters allege some of them have stripped off their uniforms and mixed in with the gangs of marauding thugs.

“When there are demonstrations of this size, there will be foreigners who come and take advantage and they have an agenda to raise the energy of the protesters,” Vice President Omar Suleiman said on state television.

Pro-government mobs beat foreign journalists with sticks and fists Thursday. The Committee to Protect Journalists said 24 reporters were detained in 24 hours, including representatives of The Washington Post and The New York Times. Twenty-one journalists were assaulted, including two with Fox News.

One Greek journalist was stabbed in the leg with a screwdriver, and a photographer was punched in the face, his equipment smashed.

The Arabic news network Al-Arabiya pleaded for the army to protect its offices and journalists, and Al-Jazeera said four of its correspondents were attacked. The BBC’s foreign editor said security forces had seized the network’s equipment in a hotel to stop it broadcasting.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs denounced reports of “systematic targeting” of journalists and the State Department described it as a “concerted campaign to intimidate.”

“I think we need to be clear that the world is watching the actions that are taking place right now in Egypt,” Gibbs said.

Human rights activists were also targeted. Military police stormed the offices of an Egyptian rights group as activists were meeting and arrested at least 30, including two from the London-based Amnesty International, Amnesty spokesman Tom Mackey said. New York-based Human Rights Watch said one of its activists was also among those arrested.

Amnesty’s secretary-general Salil Shetty demanded their immediate release saying they should be allowed “to monitor the human rights situation in Egypt at this crucial time without fear of harassment or detention.”

Mubarak’s top ally, the United States, has pressed him to quickly transition to a democratic government but has said his earlier gestures, including forming a new government, were insufficient.

The crisis that began on Jan. 25 when protesters launched the biggest challenge ever to Mubarak’s 30-year rule has grown perilous. The day after Mubarak went on television late Tuesday and refused to step down, thousands of his supporters attacked anti-government protesters in Tahrir Square, where they had held a peaceful vigil for days.

The Mubarak supporters started fierce battles with firebombs, machetes and chunks of pavement that lasted throughout the night and all day Thursday.

After nightfall, the fighting died down with protesters’ hold on the square and nearby streets unbroken.

Nearly 10,000 remained, some dancing and singing in victory as others — battered and bandaged — lay down exhausted to sleep or drank tea in the center of the rubble-strewn roundabout. Throughout the day, they gained in numbers and got supplies of food and medicine.

At least eight people have been killed and about 900 injured in the two days of fighting around Tahrir.