As the anti-government protests spread in North Africa and the Middle East, Chinese officials have begun to crack down on dissidents and foreign journalists. On Sunday, about a dozen European and Japanese journalists in Shanghai were detained in an underground bunker-like room for two hours after covering a protest. A journalist with Bloomberg News has reported being beaten by security officers and followed by plainclothes police officers. Undercover officers also recently roughed up a BBC reporter by pushing him into a car and then repeatedly slamming the car door on his legs.