More Than 100,000 Protest in Egypt
CAIRO — More than 100,000 Egyptians protested outside the presidential palace in Cairo on Tuesday, fueling tensions over Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi’s seizure of nearly unrestricted powers and the adoption by his allies of a controversial draft constitution.
The outpouring of anger across the Egyptian capital, the Mediterranean port of Alexandria and a string of other cities pointed to a prolonged standoff between the president and a newly united opposition.
Morsi’s opponents, long fractured by bickering and competing egos, have been reenergized since he announced decrees last month that place him above oversight of any kind, including by the courts, and provide immunity to two key bodies dominated by his allies: The 100-member panel drafting the constitution and parliament’s upper chamber.
The decrees have led to charges that Morsi’s powers turned him into a “new pharaoh.”
The large turnout in Tuesday’s protests — dubbed “The Last Warning” by organizers — signaled sustained momentum for the opposition, which brought out at least 200,000 protesters to Cairo’s Tahrir Square a week ago and a comparable number on Friday to demand that Morsi rescind the decrees.
The huge scale of the protests have dealt a blow to the legitimacy of the new constitution threatens to restrict freedom of expression and opens the door to Islamist control over day-to-day life.