[h=3]By SAM DAGHER[/h]CAIRO—President Mohammed Morsi of Egypt and his Islamist allies appeared to be on a collision course with secular and liberal groups and large segments of the population after he set a Dec. 15 date for a referendum on a controversial constitution that has polarized the country.
Barring dialogue or last-minute compromise by either camp, many see the current impasse as one of the gravest dangers facing Egypt's democratic-transition process since the toppling of the regime of former strongman Hosni Mubarak nearly two years ago in one of the most closely watched uprisings of the so-called Arab Spring.
On Sunday, hundreds of Islamist supporters of Mr. Morsi besieged the Supreme Constitutional Court building in Cairo to prevent judges scheduled to hear a case about the legitimacy of a special panel formed six months ago and tasked with drafting the new constitution.
The court later issued a statement saying it was suspending its sessions until the safety of its judges and personnel can be guaranteed.
"It is a very dark day in the history of the Egyptian judiciary," said the statement.
The incident is only the latest installment in Mr. Morsi's standoff with the judiciary.
On Nov. 22, the Egyptian leader issued an edict which among other things shielded all his decisions and the Islamist-dominated panel drafting the constitution known as the Constituent Assembly from all judicial review.
Then the assembly rushed to approve a constitution in a marathon session last week despite a boycott by more than a quarter of its members representing Egyptian secular groups and the churches.
The assembly's chairman handed Mr. Morsi the final draft of the constitution in a ceremony on Saturday during which the president announced the date of the referendum as hundreds of thousands of his Islamist supporters rallied in Cairo.
"I tell our great people, the opponent before the supporter, help me with all your strength to fulfill the responsibility that you have entrusted me with to manage the nation's affairs," Mr. Morsi said in a speech at a televised official ceremony during which he received a copy of the final draft and set a Dec. 15 date for the referendum.
"This responsibility makes it imperative in front of God, you, the Egyptian nation and the world that I forge ahead and not hesitate to carry out the will of this nation."
But the country's deep divisions were exposed during demonstrations in Cairo, where most of the pro-Morsi speakers railed against judges, secularists and liberal figures and the media.
"All these people are united to block the Islamists, stop the Islamic project and prevent the implementation of Shariah," one speaker told the crowds from a stage erected in front of the main campus of Cairo University referring to Islamic law.
Morsi supporters were bused in from rural areas across the country for what Islamist parties in the current government coalition have dubbed a rally around "Shariah [Islamic law] and legitimacy."
Among the Islamist leaders in attendance were some belonging to groups that once waged an armed insurrection against the Egyptian state in the 1980s and 1990s.
The groups subsequently foreswore violence, and they entered politics after Mr. Mubarak's fall.
"Egypt is Islamic. We do not want it secular," read one banner.
"Yes to God's rule," said another.
On Sunday, in response to Mr. Morsi's move, 18 secular and liberal parties, as well as youth movements that played a pivotal role in the uprising that toppled Mr. Mubarak, warned Mr. Morsi: "We are sending a final warning to Dr. Mohammed Morsi who was elected as legitimate and democratic president of the country that his legitimacy is eroding and diminishing with his policies and actions that are biased toward his party and group."
The signatories said they were organizing a large demonstration dubbed "the last chance" outside the presidential palace on Tuesday to pressure Mr. Morsi to rescind his decree and postpone the referendum on the constitution.
The groups say the document is illegitimate because they say it is the product of a process dominated by the Islamists and potentially paves the way for an Islamist takeover of the country.
The Islamist show of force came after Mr. Morsi's critics on Friday slammed the country's draft constitution after it emerged from a hasty all-night session, with opponents charging the document was a jumbled attempt to impose Islamic law produced by what they called an unrepresentative body dominated by Islamists.
The draft charter emerged a week after Mr. Morsi issued a decree broadly expanding his powers, spurring violent rallies against the president in the worst crisis of his five-month term.
The draft constitution was finished early Friday by Egypt's 100-member Constituent Assembly, a body that had been conceived as representing Egyptians broadly.
The group became dominated by Islamist politicians, however, after it was boycotted by Christian and secular members who had made up more than one-quarter of it.
The assembly, bolstered with replacement members, sprinted to complete the draft ahead of a scheduled hearing on Sunday in the country's top court.
The question for Mr. Morsi and his allies is whether they can overcome a barrage of opposition that has grown in the past week and now includes representatives of the judiciary, youth and liberal and secular forces, and also many Christians, moderate Islamists and a large cross-section of the population that considers itself independent.
"We are watching, we are sitting in and we are rejecting a shameful constitution," read a large banner in Cairo's central Tahrir Square, where tens of thousands of people flocked Friday to demand an end to the document, the panel that drafted it and the extraordinary powers Mr. Morsi gave himself.
Barring dialogue or last-minute compromise by either camp, many see the current impasse as one of the gravest dangers facing Egypt's democratic-transition process since the toppling of the regime of former strongman Hosni Mubarak nearly two years ago in one of the most closely watched uprisings of the so-called Arab Spring.
On Sunday, hundreds of Islamist supporters of Mr. Morsi besieged the Supreme Constitutional Court building in Cairo to prevent judges scheduled to hear a case about the legitimacy of a special panel formed six months ago and tasked with drafting the new constitution.
The court later issued a statement saying it was suspending its sessions until the safety of its judges and personnel can be guaranteed.
"It is a very dark day in the history of the Egyptian judiciary," said the statement.
The incident is only the latest installment in Mr. Morsi's standoff with the judiciary.
On Nov. 22, the Egyptian leader issued an edict which among other things shielded all his decisions and the Islamist-dominated panel drafting the constitution known as the Constituent Assembly from all judicial review.
Then the assembly rushed to approve a constitution in a marathon session last week despite a boycott by more than a quarter of its members representing Egyptian secular groups and the churches.
The assembly's chairman handed Mr. Morsi the final draft of the constitution in a ceremony on Saturday during which the president announced the date of the referendum as hundreds of thousands of his Islamist supporters rallied in Cairo.
"I tell our great people, the opponent before the supporter, help me with all your strength to fulfill the responsibility that you have entrusted me with to manage the nation's affairs," Mr. Morsi said in a speech at a televised official ceremony during which he received a copy of the final draft and set a Dec. 15 date for the referendum.
"This responsibility makes it imperative in front of God, you, the Egyptian nation and the world that I forge ahead and not hesitate to carry out the will of this nation."
But the country's deep divisions were exposed during demonstrations in Cairo, where most of the pro-Morsi speakers railed against judges, secularists and liberal figures and the media.
"All these people are united to block the Islamists, stop the Islamic project and prevent the implementation of Shariah," one speaker told the crowds from a stage erected in front of the main campus of Cairo University referring to Islamic law.
Morsi supporters were bused in from rural areas across the country for what Islamist parties in the current government coalition have dubbed a rally around "Shariah [Islamic law] and legitimacy."
Among the Islamist leaders in attendance were some belonging to groups that once waged an armed insurrection against the Egyptian state in the 1980s and 1990s.
The groups subsequently foreswore violence, and they entered politics after Mr. Mubarak's fall.
"Egypt is Islamic. We do not want it secular," read one banner.
"Yes to God's rule," said another.
On Sunday, in response to Mr. Morsi's move, 18 secular and liberal parties, as well as youth movements that played a pivotal role in the uprising that toppled Mr. Mubarak, warned Mr. Morsi: "We are sending a final warning to Dr. Mohammed Morsi who was elected as legitimate and democratic president of the country that his legitimacy is eroding and diminishing with his policies and actions that are biased toward his party and group."
The signatories said they were organizing a large demonstration dubbed "the last chance" outside the presidential palace on Tuesday to pressure Mr. Morsi to rescind his decree and postpone the referendum on the constitution.
The groups say the document is illegitimate because they say it is the product of a process dominated by the Islamists and potentially paves the way for an Islamist takeover of the country.
The Islamist show of force came after Mr. Morsi's critics on Friday slammed the country's draft constitution after it emerged from a hasty all-night session, with opponents charging the document was a jumbled attempt to impose Islamic law produced by what they called an unrepresentative body dominated by Islamists.
The draft charter emerged a week after Mr. Morsi issued a decree broadly expanding his powers, spurring violent rallies against the president in the worst crisis of his five-month term.
The draft constitution was finished early Friday by Egypt's 100-member Constituent Assembly, a body that had been conceived as representing Egyptians broadly.
The group became dominated by Islamist politicians, however, after it was boycotted by Christian and secular members who had made up more than one-quarter of it.
The assembly, bolstered with replacement members, sprinted to complete the draft ahead of a scheduled hearing on Sunday in the country's top court.
The question for Mr. Morsi and his allies is whether they can overcome a barrage of opposition that has grown in the past week and now includes representatives of the judiciary, youth and liberal and secular forces, and also many Christians, moderate Islamists and a large cross-section of the population that considers itself independent.
"We are watching, we are sitting in and we are rejecting a shameful constitution," read a large banner in Cairo's central Tahrir Square, where tens of thousands of people flocked Friday to demand an end to the document, the panel that drafted it and the extraordinary powers Mr. Morsi gave himself.