Photo: Xinhua/STR Tens of protesters have set up tents by Egypt's presidential palace in a sit-in against a constitutional decree issued by President Mohamed Mursi and a draft constitution written by an Islamist-dominated assembly.
Opposition forces marched to the Heliopolis palace on Tuesday demanding "the downfall of the regime" and expressing outrage to Mursi's attempt to expand his powers or pass a controversial charter.
Mursi issued a constitutional decree on November 22 shielding his decisions from court challenges while an Islamist-dominated assembly finished drafting a new charter on Friday allowing it to be put to a referendum on December 15.
Liberal, leftist and socialist forces have widely denounced the two moves, considering the former as an attempt to undermine the judiciary and the latter a step towards an Islamist state.
The liberal Dostour Party, founded by Nobel Laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, asked protesters to uphold their sit-in until Friday and continue to push for their demands through further marches to the president's office.
No central security forces were seen by the palace, an eyewitness told Aswat Masriya.
Clashes erupted on Tuesday evening when some protesters broke the barricades in an attempt to get closer to the palace. Security forces responded with teargas to disperse the protesters then retreated.
The protesters chanted many slogans against Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood to which he belongs, and some handed out fliers with information on the new charter.
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The Egyptians have never lived under a democratic regime, and their views of democracy is confined to what each media outlet calls democracy, or what their priest or imam portray as democracy. Add to that the impulsive views coming by friends and peers into their cell-phones and iPods, and democracy becomes a polygon subject that doesn't fit the square thinking of anybody on the street! Even Aristotle has 5 styles of democracy - even though the differences among the 5 were in the functions, not on the basic concept! Add to the above the strong religious beliefs among the 85 millions Egyptians; add the clan traditions; add a history of colonialism and of wars with Israel; add external blueprints pushed by the former colonial powers in the re- designing of the new political landscape in Middle East - after the Arab Springs, and the political views in Egypt are as unsteady as the Sahara Desert winds! The Egyptians had better settle their views on their own, or their former colonial powers will settle for them. And if that happens, their chance for democracy might vanish unwittingly, and the former Mubarak regime might return with vengeance! Nikos Retsos, retired professor