Quote:

---

Egypt's embattled regime moved Thursday to defuse a bloody uprising as sporadic clashes continued in the capital's central square, where the drama has been unfolding for 10 days.

President Hosni Mubarak's newly appointed prime minister apologized repeatedly for the violence that rocked Cairo on Wednesday, which many believe was the work of pro-government thugs, and vowed to investigate.

Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq blamed infiltrators and a "complete disappearance" of police for the human toll in the "catastrophe." Vice President Omar Suleiman said the perpetrators of the violence would be held accountable. [Police being made scapegoats? Especially given some looters were found to have police IDs on them…?]

This group got in and some clashes happened," Shafiq said, adding that he would look into whether the violence was part of an organized attempt to disband the opposition. [SOME clashes??]

The government also froze the bank accounts of former leaders and imposed a travel ban that restricts them from exiting the country, state-run television said. The travel ban will remain in effect "until national security is restored and the authorities and monitoring bodies have undergone their investigations," Nile TV said. [Does anyone buy this talk of “investigations”?]

Among the leaders facing the punitive measures is Habib Adli, former minister of the interior, which oversees Egypt's police forces. [More scapegoating?]

And Suleiman, tapped as Mubarak's vice president last Saturday, announced that Mubarak's son, Gamal, who was being groomed as his father's successor, will not run for president in September elections. [Pundits were saying that’s one reason the protesters wanted Mubarak out NOW, that he might well manipulate things so either his son or “chosen candidate” could take over in September]

Egyptian anger continued to surface in Tahrir Square on Thursday as pro-Mubarak crowds, albeit thinner than the previous day, clashed again with the government's opponents.

Earlier, the sound of sustained gunfire echoed through central Cairo. The military maneuvered to separate the two sides but in the afternoon, in parts of the square, the soldiers were nowhere to be seen. [So what gives with the military? I saw tanks get between the two groups last night, trailing white smoke, which they were saying was a smoke screen to let both sides retreat…but now NONE of them?]

Anti-government demonstrators hunkered down behind makeshift barricades and small fires burned in the square, with some spreading to trees and walls. Chunks of concrete and Molotov cocktails flew as the crisis escalated. [That’s what I was watching last night…can’t find anything to say whether it continued Thursday day]

---

Quote:

---

Mubarak loyalists, who had been largely silent since the unrest began, came out in full force Wednesday -- in one case wielding whips and thundering through the crowd on horses and camels.

"What you are seeing is the demonstration of the real Egyptian people who are trying to take back their country, trying to take back their street," said businessman Khaled Ahmed, who described himself as "pro-Egyptian."

But some observers said the pro-Mubarak push Wednesday was likely orchestrated by a regime bent on breaking up peaceful demonstrations.

"These are tactics that are well-known in Egypt," Michele Dunne, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told CNN's John King.

---