Mohammed Morsi sought to present the Islamist-drafter charter as the turning of a historic page for Egypt, but his speech did little to ease the suspicions of those who fear he and his Muslim Brotherhood are entrenching their power. He offered no concrete gestures to an opposition that has so far rejected his dialogue and vowed to fight the constitution.

Instead, with a triumphalist tone, he presented the constitution, which was approved by nearly 64 percent of voters in a referendum that ended last weekend, as creating a democracy with balanced powers between branches of government and political freedoms.

"We don't want to return to an era of one opinion and fake, manufactured majorities. The maturity and consciousness (of voters) heralds that Egypt has set on a path of democracy with no return," Morsi said. "Regardless of the results, for the sake of building the nation, efforts must unite. There is no alternative to a dialogue that is now a necessity."

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Egypt's opposition coalition have called for more protests, following tense altercations last week when Muslim Brotherhood supporters clashed violently with opposition protesters at the heavily guarded gates of presidential palace in Cairo. In a move disturbingly reminiscent of Mubarak's authoritarian leadership, the government Sunday granted the army the right to arrest citizens to safeguard the disputed referendum.

Some ambiguity remains over whether opposition groups will rally behind a boycott of the referendum or a push for "no" votes. Scholars and commentators point out too that it may not be the draft constitution itself at the heart of Egypt's current crisis, but rather the process through which the referendum has been foisted on the people.

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The announcement, made by the head of Egypt's election committee, Ismail Hamdi, came a day after Morsi appealed for dialogue even as he accused tens of thousands of protesters marching on his palace of being infiltrated by thugs. He has so far made no concrete concessions to defuse the crisis that has plunged the country into new turmoil, and the two sides appeared to be at a deadlock.

Egypt's political crisis has been building up since Morsi issued a decree on Nov. 22 that gave him absolute powers and immunity from judicial oversight.

The crisis intensified when Morsi called for a Dec. 15 national referendum on the draft constitution produced by the Islamist-led constituent assembly after rushing it in a marathon session. Liberals had quit the assembly, which was already facing legal appeals to disband it. The draft came with loopholes and was infused with articles that liberals fear would pave the way for Islamizing Egypt.

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The intensity of the overnight violence, with Morsi's Islamist backers and largely secular protesters lobbing firebombs and rocks at each other, signaled a possible turning point in the 2-week-old crisis over the president's assumption of near-absolute powers and the hurried adoption of a draft constitution.

Opposition activists defiantly called for another protest outside the palace later Thursday, raising the specter of more bloodshed as neither side showed willingness to back down.

But the army's Republican Guard, an elite unit assigned to protect the president and his palaces, gave protesters on both sides until 3 p.m. (1300 GMT, 8 a.m. EDT) to clear the vicinity, according to an official statement. The statement also announced a ban on protests outside any of the nation's presidential palaces.

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Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading opposition advocate of reform and democracy, said Morsi's rule was "no different" from that of former President Hosni Mubarak, whose authoritarian regime was toppled in an uprising nearly two years ago.

"In fact, it is perhaps even worse," the Nobel Peace Laureate told a news conference after he accused the president's supporters of a "vicious and deliberate" attack on peaceful demonstrators.

The opposition is demanding Morsi rescind decrees giving him near unrestricted powers and shelve a disputed draft constitution that the president's Islamist allies passed hurriedly last week.

The dueling demonstrations and violence are part of a political crisis that has left the country divided into two camps: Islamists versus an opposition made up of youth groups, liberal parties and large sectors of the public. Both sides have dug in their heels, signaling a protracted standoff.

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The violence erupted when protesters pushed aside a barricade topped with barbed wire several hundred yards from the palace walls. Police fired tear gas, and then retreated. There were no immediate reports on casualties.

Tuesday's march comes amid rising anger over a hurriedly adopted draft constitution by President Mohammed Morsi's allies and decrees giving him sweeping powers. Morsi called for a referendum on the draft constitution on Dec. 15.

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Since neither choice appeals to a majority of Egyptians, they have instead turned out in large numbers to protest.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi says he needs the new, sweeping powers to protect Egypt from an activist judiciary dominated by holdovers from the era of toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Morsi said he would give up these new powers as soon as a new constitution is drafted. So after protests erupted, the Islamist-dominated constituent assembly resolved to diffuse the situation by ramming through an already controversial draft constitution.

“It’s not even an ultimatum, really. You get a constitution that’s quite crappy, and you’re stuck with a president whose decisions you cannot challenge,” said Ziad Akl, a senior political researcher at Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. “This has nothing to do with a transition toward democracy, but a lot to do with creating a new autocratic or dictatorial elite.”

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There were reports of clashes between riot police and demonstrators, according to CNN, with the police firing tear gas and charging at protesters who threw stones. CNN said the police arrested many demonstrators, beating some.

The protesters, nearly 200,000 of them, filled Tahrir Square from Tuesday night into Wednesday. Observers said the crowds were the biggest since former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power last year.

Reuters reported that two of Egypt's top courts also stopped work in protest of the decree.

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The decree, issued Thursday night, was met with outrage by Egypt's political opposition, which called Morsi's move an "attack on democracy" and a "threat to judicial independence." It also led to demonstrations of tens of thousands on Friday in Cairo and other Egyptian cities.

Presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said late on Monday that Morsi's decree would not be subject to modification and that it may have been "misunderstood" by the public, reported Ahram Online.

"The decree will only immunize the president's sovereign decisions [from legal challenges]," Ali said in a statement after Morsi met with senior jurists, reported UPI. He also said the decree was temporary and stressed Morsi's respect for Egypt's judicial institutions and their independence.

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Police fired tear gas and hundreds of protesters pelted them with rocks at a street between the U.S. Embassy and Tahrir Square, birthplace of the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime nearly two years ago.

The protesters have been staging a sit-in at the square since Friday night to demand President Mohammed Morsi revoke his decrees.

By mid-day, hundreds were starting to gather in Tahrir, chanting against Morsi's decrees and the Brotherhood. A new banner in the square proclaimed, "The Brotherhood stole the country."

"We are here to bring down the constitutional declaration issued by Morsi," said one protester at Tahrir, Mahmoud Youssef.

Hundreds of lawyers meanwhile gathered outside their union building in downtown Cairo ahead of their march to Tahrir. "Leave, leave," they chanted, addressing Morsi.

The rally planned for later Tuesday, with marches from various parts of Cairo to converge on Tahrir, is to be a significant test of the opposition's ability to bring out supporters and the public against Morsi's edicts issued last week.

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The escalating violence in Gaza and southern Israel, in which 15 Palestinians and three Israelis have so far been killed, presents an early diplomatic and political test for Egypt’s new president and former Brotherhood leader, Mohamed Morsi.

Morsi is under international pressure to safeguard Egypt’s decades-long peace treaty with Israel. But he is also facing calls at home, and even from within his own party, to take a harsher stance on Israel in light of the ongoing strikes.

“If Morsi does not align with Hamas we will remove him,” said Abdullah Al Desouqi, a member of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party in South Sinai. Hamas is the Islamist movement now in control of the Gaza Strip.

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Accusations of insulting Islam have increased in Egypt -- particularly against Christians -- since last month's fury over an anti-Islam film produced in the United States. Such cases occurred in the past, but the flurry to prosecute in recent weeks has raised concerns over freedom of speech and over the power of ultraconservative Islamists in the country.

The new case is a rare instance of minors being accused. The boys, ages 9 and 10, were detained Tuesday and will be held for 15 days while prosecutors investigate the accusations.

There have been 17 cases of alleged contempt of religion filed since the January 2011 revolution, including at least five in recent weeks, according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. A female Coptic teacher in another southern town was also summoned for interrogation last week and detained for a night after her students accused her of speaking offensively of the Prophet Muhammad in class. The teacher was released from detention, but prosecutors are still investigating her, human rights activists said.

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Morsi sent that message in an interview with the New York Times after a wave of violence erupted across the Muslim world over an amateur film produced in the U.S. that was deemed offensive to Islam and its prophet Muhammed. The film raised news tensions between Washington and Egypt.

Morsi criticized U.S. dealings with the Arab world, saying it is not possible to judge Egyptian behavior and decision-making by American cultural standards. He said Washington earned ill will in the region in the past by backing dictators and taking "a very clear" biased approach against the Palestinians and for Israel.

"Successive American administrations essentially purchased with American taxpayer money the dislike, if not the hatred, of the peoples of the region," he told the paper in the interview published late Saturday, drawing a clear distinction between the American government and the American people. Those administrations "have taken a very clear biased approach against something that (has) very strong emotional ties to the people of the region that is the issue of Palestine."

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Judge Luis Lavin rejected the request from Cindy Lee Garcia, an actress who appears in the clip, in part because the man behind the film wasn't served with a copy of the lawsuit.

Garcia has said she and her family have been threatened and her career damaged since the 14-minute trailer for "Innocence of Muslims" surfaced.

"Emotionally, I am very disturbed," Garcia said before heading into court Thursday.

"My whole life has been turned upside down in every aspect," she added. "My family has been threatened."

Garcia said she was duped by the man behind the clip and that the script she saw referenced neither Muslims nor Prophet Muhammad. She said she was shocked when she finally saw the end result.

"I think it's demoralizing, degrading," she said of the film. "I think it needs to come off."

On Wednesday, Garcia filed a lawsuit for fraud and slander against Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the man behind "Innocence of Muslims" who has gone into hiding since the trailer rose to prominence last week.

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It was Salafi-Islamist groups, more conservative than, and politically at odds with, the ruling Muslim Brotherhood, which made the first calls for protests outside the US Embassy in Cairo last week.

Since then, some of those same groups have openly pressured Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, a longtime leader of the Brotherhood, to take a more hardline stance against the United States for “allowing” the anti-Islam film — which was used as a rallying point for the unrest — to be produced on its soil.

Morsi’s initial reluctance to condemn the storming at the US Embassy, which provoked the ire of the Obama administration, was largely viewed as a move to appease local, more extreme Islamic political groups.

Protesters outside the mission had chanted: “Morsi, Morsi, why are you silent? Isn’t this your prophet?”

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With a domestic economy in ruins and an electorate afraid for their jobs, their homes, and their health care, there seemed to be little energy left to ponder problems in distant lands.

This suited Republican challenger Mitt Romney just fine.

More than one pundit has joked that Romney’s foreign policy experience ends at the offshore banks where he parks his money.

“Mitt has so little economic patriotism that even his money needs a passport,” quipped former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC.

Besides, there was little actual daylight between the positions of incumbent President Barack Obama and his rival on the main issues: While Romney tried his best to find fault with Obama’s plan to withdraw most American combat troops from Afghanistan by 2014, the truth is that there was simply no domestic appetite for prolonged debate over an endless and seemingly fruitless war.

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French police arrested 150 demonstrators who gathered outside the US embassy in Paris on Saturday, and 250 protesters were detained in Belgium over the weekend after confrontations in the country's second city, Antwerp. Around 300 people chanted anti-US slogans outside the American Embassy in London on Sunday.

Muslim leaders in France and Belgium were quick to condemn the violence despite their outrage over the video, which mocks the Prophet Muhammad.

"Don't associate French Muslims with these marginalized events," said Mohamed Moussaoui, president of the French Council of the Muslim Religion. "Muslims should use legal and just means to defend their religion."

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Local shops re-opened, traffic flowed through a nearby square, and workers, guarded by fresh barbed wire erected to protect the embassy grounds, painted over the anti-American graffiti tagged on the building’s walls.

Egypt’s riot police made sweeping arrests in an early morning crackdown Saturday, detaining more than 140 people, the interior ministry here said. At least a dozen people, including the US Ambassador to Libya, were killed across the region.

“Last week, it was all tear gas and stones, and people bleeding,” said Nihal Al Hakeem, the owner of a pharmacy directly across the street from the US Embassy in Cairo, referring to the clashes between protestors and police. “But now, everything seems to be okay.”

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“You know, we had a lot of bad news this week,” DeMint said. “On my way over, I was reading another story about a distant place where thugs had put 400,000 children out in the streets. And then I realized that was a story of the Chicago teachers strike. But we’ve got to think of good things.”

Via ThinkProgress.

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