[h=3]By MATT BRADLEY And SAM DAGHER[/h]
EPAA general view shows protesters demonstrating against the President Mohamed Morsi's decree in Tahrir Square in Cairo.
CAIRO—Tens of thousands of Egyptians opposed to President Mohammed Morsi's recent effort to expand his power descended on central Cairo to voice outrage over the move.
Large numbers gathered in Tahrir Square on Tuesday, many of them secularists and liberals, in a rejection of an attempt by the Islamist-backed president to mollify his critics in a statement on the eve of the protests.
Yasser Ali, Mr. Morsi's spokesman, told national television audiences that the constitutional declaration that endowed near absolute power on the president was temporary and limited only to the president's highest-level decisions.
Secularists and other critics complained that Mr. Ali's late-night explanation was a cynical attempt at crowd control, not a real concession.
ReutersAn anti-Morsi protester runs to throw a tear-gas canister during clashes with riot police at Tahrir Square, Cairo, on Tuesday.
The turnout, in which activists pitched dozens of tents and said they would stay in place until Mr. Morsi rescinds his decree, appeared to unite and reinvigorate a moribund protest movement. Nearly two years after Egyptians crowded Tahrir Square to howl for democracy, the Arab world's most populous country continues to struggle to come to terms with the leaders its fledgling democracy brought to power.
The clamorous scene of revolutionary chants and slogans, and the carnival-like atmosphere, recalled emblematic moments of the popular uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak nearly two years ago. "Egypt is for all Egyptians," proclaimed a large banner in the middle of the square.
Mr. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, the powerful Islamist group he once led, coasted into power earlier this year thanks to their well established presence on Egyptian streets and ready-made appeal to this deeply conservative country.
Following a series of political maneuvers since Mr. Morsi was elected in June, the Brotherhood and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, now control the country's military, executive and legislative branches and have most recently sidelined the judiciary.
The Brotherhood's maximalist approach toward political authority has caused even some supporters to doubt the organization's commitment to democracy.
On Thursday, Mr. Morsi issued a decree that would prevent Egyptian judges from dissolving a constitutional drafting committee dominated by Islamist politicians. More than 20 liberal-leaning constitution drafters, angered by the Islamist's majority, have withdrawn from the committee in the past two weeks.
Mr. Morsi's move to block judicial authority over the drafting board, known as the Constituent Assembly, infuriated Egypt's judges, who say Mr. Morsi's behavior recalls the autocrat whom Egyptians fought to oust early last year.
"It means we don't want to create another Mubarak," said Nigad al-Boraei, a prominent human-rights lawyer. "The only way is to show that we are very angry and to let this president and any other president know that we won't do whatever they want to do."
Mr. Morsi and the Brotherhood contend that the decree was aimed at cleansing Egypt's judiciary from ex-regime judges intent on reversing the country's revolutionary gains. Brotherhood leaders canceled a demonstration backing Mr. Morsi planned for Tuesday to avoid a potentially violent confrontation, Brotherhood leaders said.
The scene in downtown Cairo on Tuesday afternoon settled into a recurring pattern for Egyptian protests. While secular activists, artists and intellectuals armed with anti-Brotherhood and Morsi placards convened in Tahrir Square, teenagers in neighboring Simón Bolivar Square used clubs and rocks to attack police, who responded with tear gas and bird shot.
After a day of clashes, the young men had set fire to a private car by early evening and one protester was reported to have died from tear-gas inhalation.
The Muslim Brotherhood said in an urgent flash on its website that its party offices across the country were being attacked by hired thugs, known as baltagiya, using rocks, Molotov cocktails, sticks and knives. The worst violence occurred in the industrial cities of Mahalla al-Kubra and Tanta, north of Cairo.
Despite the well-worn revolutionary chants, the secularists gathered in Tahrir Square included the ranks of Egypt's well-heeled, who rarely join mass demonstrations.
A group of women standing on a sidewalk made fun of one of their own, saying she was a "designer label society lady" who had come to Tahrir for the first time ever.
Their presence brought a party-like mood to the protests. Many women affixed to their designer handbags stickers in the shape of a CD titled "Your Constitution is False, False!" portraying a beloved popular singer, Shadia.
"We are in a mess, Egypt is being smashed, we want a strong Egypt that moves forward and not go 15 centuries backward," said one of the women, tour operator Randa Bassil.
A half dozen turbaned independent clerics took to a stage set up in the square to assail what they said was the extremist and intolerant version of Islam embraced by the Brotherhood and their Salafist allies in government.
Other groups congregated in a makeshift open air cafe of plastic chairs and tables sipping tea and eating grilled corn on the cob and sandwiches. Nearby vendors behind a cart marked "revolution juice" did brisk business selling freshly squeezed orange juice.
EPAA general view shows protesters demonstrating against the President Mohamed Morsi's decree in Tahrir Square in Cairo.
CAIRO—Tens of thousands of Egyptians opposed to President Mohammed Morsi's recent effort to expand his power descended on central Cairo to voice outrage over the move.
Large numbers gathered in Tahrir Square on Tuesday, many of them secularists and liberals, in a rejection of an attempt by the Islamist-backed president to mollify his critics in a statement on the eve of the protests.
Yasser Ali, Mr. Morsi's spokesman, told national television audiences that the constitutional declaration that endowed near absolute power on the president was temporary and limited only to the president's highest-level decisions.
Secularists and other critics complained that Mr. Ali's late-night explanation was a cynical attempt at crowd control, not a real concession.
ReutersAn anti-Morsi protester runs to throw a tear-gas canister during clashes with riot police at Tahrir Square, Cairo, on Tuesday.
The turnout, in which activists pitched dozens of tents and said they would stay in place until Mr. Morsi rescinds his decree, appeared to unite and reinvigorate a moribund protest movement. Nearly two years after Egyptians crowded Tahrir Square to howl for democracy, the Arab world's most populous country continues to struggle to come to terms with the leaders its fledgling democracy brought to power.
The clamorous scene of revolutionary chants and slogans, and the carnival-like atmosphere, recalled emblematic moments of the popular uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak nearly two years ago. "Egypt is for all Egyptians," proclaimed a large banner in the middle of the square.
Mr. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, the powerful Islamist group he once led, coasted into power earlier this year thanks to their well established presence on Egyptian streets and ready-made appeal to this deeply conservative country.
Following a series of political maneuvers since Mr. Morsi was elected in June, the Brotherhood and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, now control the country's military, executive and legislative branches and have most recently sidelined the judiciary.
The Brotherhood's maximalist approach toward political authority has caused even some supporters to doubt the organization's commitment to democracy.
On Thursday, Mr. Morsi issued a decree that would prevent Egyptian judges from dissolving a constitutional drafting committee dominated by Islamist politicians. More than 20 liberal-leaning constitution drafters, angered by the Islamist's majority, have withdrawn from the committee in the past two weeks.
Mr. Morsi's move to block judicial authority over the drafting board, known as the Constituent Assembly, infuriated Egypt's judges, who say Mr. Morsi's behavior recalls the autocrat whom Egyptians fought to oust early last year.
"It means we don't want to create another Mubarak," said Nigad al-Boraei, a prominent human-rights lawyer. "The only way is to show that we are very angry and to let this president and any other president know that we won't do whatever they want to do."
Mr. Morsi and the Brotherhood contend that the decree was aimed at cleansing Egypt's judiciary from ex-regime judges intent on reversing the country's revolutionary gains. Brotherhood leaders canceled a demonstration backing Mr. Morsi planned for Tuesday to avoid a potentially violent confrontation, Brotherhood leaders said.
The scene in downtown Cairo on Tuesday afternoon settled into a recurring pattern for Egyptian protests. While secular activists, artists and intellectuals armed with anti-Brotherhood and Morsi placards convened in Tahrir Square, teenagers in neighboring Simón Bolivar Square used clubs and rocks to attack police, who responded with tear gas and bird shot.
After a day of clashes, the young men had set fire to a private car by early evening and one protester was reported to have died from tear-gas inhalation.
The Muslim Brotherhood said in an urgent flash on its website that its party offices across the country were being attacked by hired thugs, known as baltagiya, using rocks, Molotov cocktails, sticks and knives. The worst violence occurred in the industrial cities of Mahalla al-Kubra and Tanta, north of Cairo.
Despite the well-worn revolutionary chants, the secularists gathered in Tahrir Square included the ranks of Egypt's well-heeled, who rarely join mass demonstrations.
A group of women standing on a sidewalk made fun of one of their own, saying she was a "designer label society lady" who had come to Tahrir for the first time ever.
Their presence brought a party-like mood to the protests. Many women affixed to their designer handbags stickers in the shape of a CD titled "Your Constitution is False, False!" portraying a beloved popular singer, Shadia.
"We are in a mess, Egypt is being smashed, we want a strong Egypt that moves forward and not go 15 centuries backward," said one of the women, tour operator Randa Bassil.
A half dozen turbaned independent clerics took to a stage set up in the square to assail what they said was the extremist and intolerant version of Islam embraced by the Brotherhood and their Salafist allies in government.
Other groups congregated in a makeshift open air cafe of plastic chairs and tables sipping tea and eating grilled corn on the cob and sandwiches. Nearby vendors behind a cart marked "revolution juice" did brisk business selling freshly squeezed orange juice.