BBC correspondent Matthew Price today said there was an increasingly “desperate situation” at the Rixos hotel in Tripoli, where around three dozen journalists and several other foreigners say that armed men are preventing them from leaving.

International reports say the Rixos hotel has now lost electricity in some parts and that those in the hotel are running low on drinking water and food.

Journalists in the hotel are reporting that there is heavy fighting outside, and they are staying away from windows to avoid gunfire.

Meanwhile, some reports said that journalists had been told that they will be moved somewhere safe later in the day.

For months, international correspondents covering the Libyan conflict in Tripoli have been reportedly holed up at the Rixos, where they were presented with propaganda by Qaddafi officials and generally prevented from travelling and reporting freely around the city.

“We are concerned for the safety of all journalists and others who remain at the Rixos hotel,” said IPI Director Alison Bethel McKenzie. “We call on all parties to help ensure the safety of reporters who are in Libya while still allowing them to do their job and record the news as it happens.”