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Egyptian protesters chant slogans against the Muslim Brotherhood during a rally in front of the presidential palace in Cairo on Tuesday.
By Reuters
CAIRO -- Egyptian police fired tear gas at protesters demonstrating against President Mohamed Morsi's drive to hold a snap referendum on a new constitution and some broke through police lines around his palace, live television footage showed.
Several thousand protesters had gathered nearby in what they dubbed "last warning" protests against Morsi, who has angered opponents with a November 22 decree that expanded his powers.
"The people want the downfall of the regime," chanted the protesters.
Morsi ignited a storm of unrest in his bid to prevent a judiciary still packed with appointees of ousted predecessor Hosni Mubarak from derailing a troubled political transition.
Riot police had earlier mustered around the palace as activists chanted "leave, leave" and held up Egyptian flags with "no to the constitution" written on them. Other protesters assembled in front of two mosques north of Cairo before marching towards the palace.
"Many of our national leaders and youth will join us in our marches today," said Hussein Abdel Ghany, a spokesman for the opposition coalition. "Our marches are against tyranny and the void constitutional decree and we won't retract our position until our demands are met."
Supporters of Islamist president push Egypt to tipping point
Still, by early evening there was only a limited response to opposition calls for a mass campaign of civil disobedience in the Arab world's most populous country and cultural hub, where many people yearn for a return to stability.
A few hundred protesters gathered earlier near Mursi's house in a suburb east of Cairo, chanting slogans against his decree and against the Muslim Brotherhood, from which the president emerged to win a free election in June. Police closed the road to stop them from coming any closer, a security official said.
Liberals, leftists, Christians and others have accused Mursi of staging a dictatorial power grab to steamroll through a constitution drafted by an assembly packed with Islamists, with a referendum planned for Dec. 15.
Liberals, Christians left out as Islamists back Egypt's draft constitution
Egypt's most widely read independent newspapers did not publish on Tuesday in protest at Mursi's "dictatorship". Banks planned to close three hours early, one bank official said.
As protesters clashes, President Mohammed Morsi of Egypt announced a referendum on a proposed constitution. NBC's Jim Maceda reports.
After having pushed the Egyptian military command out of the political driving seat it held for decades, the Islamists sense their moment has come to shape the future of Egypt, a longtime U.S. ally whose 1979 peace treaty with Israel is a cornerstone of Washington's Middle East policy.
Crisis tests Egyptians' constitution
The Muslim Brotherhood and its allies, who staged a huge pro-Mursi demonstration on Saturday, are confident that enough members of the judiciary will be available to oversee the Dec. 15 referendum, despite calls by some judges for a boycott.
The Muslim Brotherhood, now tasting power via the ballot box for the first time in eight decades of struggle, wants to safeguard its gains and appears ready to override street protests by what it regards as an unrepresentative minority.
It is also determined to prevent the courts, which have already dissolved the Islamist-led elected lower house of parliament, from throwing more obstacles in the way of their blueprint for change.
Despite charges that they are anti-Islamist and politically motivated, judges say they are following legal codes in their rulings. Experts say some political changes rushed through in the past two years have been on shaky legal ground.
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