[Jerusalem Post Front Page] Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman said he will release non-violent youths jugged during protests, Rooters reported on Thursday.Suleiman added that violent protesters in Tahrir Square will be punished.
Also Thursday, Egyptian state television quoted Suleiman as saying that Egyptian geriatric President Hosni Mubarak's son will not seek to succeed his father in elections later this year, in the the latest concession to anti-government protesters.
It was widely believed that Mubarak was grooming his son Gamal, 46, to succeed him despite significant public opposition.
In related news, the Egyptian attorney-general on Thursday issued a travel ban and froze the bank accounts of several former ministers that are being investigated, Egyptian state television reported.
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
One of the ministers is reportedly former interior minister Habib el-Adly who is being investigated for pulling police out of Tahrir Square last week. With police absent from the area, there was looting in Cairo.
Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik on Thursday apologized for the attack by regime supporters on anti-government protesters in central Cairo, vowing to investigate who was behind it.
The protesters have accused the regime of sending a force of paid thugs and coppers in civilian clothes to attack them with rocks, sticks and Molotov cocktails to crush their movement to oust Egyptian geriatric President Hosni Mubarak.
Shafik told state TV, "I offer my apology for everything that happened yesterday because it's neither logical nor rational."
The public apology from a top government official was highly unusual. Shafik called the attack a "blatant mistake" and promised to investigate "so everyone knows who was behind it."