Anti-Mubarak protesters hit back

Egyptian anti-government protesters have fought back against supporters of President Hosni Mubarak, pushing them out of some streets near Cairo's Tahrir Square which they controlled, the BBC News reported.

Stones were thrown on both sides, and some gunshots have been heard. The army, which was trying to separate the two sides, appears to have failed to control the crowds.

The clashes came as the vice-president said Mubarak's son Gamal would not stand for president. In a TV address on Tuesday, President Mubarak said he would stand down at presidential elections later this year, but said nothing about his son.

Earlier PM Ahmed Shafiq apologised for the fighting, which killed eight and wounded hundreds. He pledged to investigate the violence, calling it a "disaster".

The protesters are demanding that Mubarak, who has ruled for 30 years, step down immediately.

The square looks for the first time like a revolutionary scene, with barricades, flags and men with bandages around their heads, he adds.

Egypt's Health Minister Ahmed Samih Farid said that eight people had died in the fighting, which began on Wednesday, and 890 were injured, nine of them critically - mostly as the result of stone-throwing and attacks with metal rods and sticks. Petrol bombs have also been thrown.

Shafiq told journalists: "As officials and a state which must protect its sons, I thought it was necessary for me to apologise and to say that this matter will not be repeated."

He promised an investigation to find out whether the demonstration was planned or spontaneous. The protest was causing damage to the economy, he warned.

"I call on the protesters in these demonstrations to feel that with every passing hour there is destruction. Our work is frozen," he said. "There is very, very great destruction and we will suffer from it a great deal."

Mubarak has said that he will serve out his current presidential term, which ends in September, but will not run for re-election.