Six people were killed and 450 injured after clashes between protesters and supporters of President Mohamed Mursi on Wednesday night, reports Ahram Online from Cairo.

Fighting erupted between the two groups in front of the presidential palace after anti-Mursi demonstrators set up tents during an attempted sit-in protesting the country's draft constitution and a controversial presidential decree, according to Aswat Masriya.

People injured or killed by the fighting were admitted to hospitals in the Heliopolis area, Ahram Online adds.

A journalist, El-Hosseini Abul-Deif of El-Fagr newspaper, was reported to be one of those who died. In response, the executive board of the Journalists' Syndicate held President Mursi responsible for his failure to ensure public security.

Reuters reports that tanks and soldiers of the Republican Guard have been deployed outside the presidential palace to maintain calm.

Ahram Online also says that six members of the presidential advisory staff have resigned in protest over Mursi's decrees and his inability to resolve the crisis.

Mursi's chief of staff, Refaa Tahtawi, was quoted as announcing on Thursday that Mursi would address the nation some time during the day. He declined to indicate what the president would say, but added: "There will be no return to the past, yet there will be moves to the future".