Protests, Clashes Escalate in Cairo over Mursi’s Powers

Local Editor

Anti-riot police fired tear gas on Saturday to disperse protesters camped out in Cairo's Tahrir Square over President Mohamed Mursi's assumption of sweeping powers.

A hard core of opposition activists had spent the night in the iconic protest hub -- epicenter of the popular uprising that toppled veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak last year -- erecting some 30 tents.
But when more demonstrators attempted to join them in the morning, police responded with volleys of tear gas forcing them to retreat into surrounding streets.

Opposition-led protests were held in most of Egypt's major cities Friday sparking violent clashes in the canal city of Suez and the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
The mainly secular liberal activists voiced determination to keep up the momentum of their protests against Mursi's decree on Thursday which placed his decisions beyond judicial scrutiny, vastly adding to his power.

In response, members of the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups were also out in strength on Friday in a show of support for the president in his move to prevent the courts dissolving the constituent assembly and upper house of parliament as they have already the lower house.

Clashes broke out between the rival supporters in several cities, AFP correspondents and state television reported.

In an address to supporters outside the presidential palace, Mursi insisted that Egypt remained on the path to "freedom and democracy," despite his move to undercut the judiciary.

"Political stability, social stability and economic stability are what I want and that is what I am working for," he said.
The president already held both and executive and legislative powers and Thursday's decree puts him beyond judicial oversight until a new constitution has been ratified in a referendum.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org