Egyptians protest at presidential palace

5 Dec 2012, 10:14 pm   -   Source: AAP

Egyptians have gathered in their thousands outside the presidential palace to demand the resignation of Mohamed Morsi.

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Egyptians have taken their protests against Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to the gates of his palace, demanding his overthrow in scenes not witnessed even during demonstrations that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

An AFP photographer said hundreds of protesters were camped in front of the Itihadiya presidential palace on Wednesday morning after it had been besieged the previous night by vast anti-Morsi crowds furious at a November 22 decree expanding his powers.

Morsi returned to work in the presidential palace on Wednesday morning, his aide told AFP.

He had left "on schedule" after his meetings on Tuesday and went back to his house in a Cairo suburb, the interior ministry had said on Tuesday.

Before dawn, street vendors began to set up shop along the walls of the palace which had been sprayed with anti-Morsi graffiti.

"The final warning, the presidency under siege," read the headline of daily al-Shuruk as the independent al-Watan declared "Revolution at the president's doorstep".

During Tuesday's protest, which drew tens of thousands of demonstrators, a group cut through barbed wire a few hundred metres from the palace, prompting police to fire the tear gas before retreating and allowing demonstrators to reach the palace walls, AFP correspondents said.

On the last days of the revolution that brought down Mubarak, tens of thousands had tried to reach the Itihadiya palace but were prevented from getting close by military police.

The protesters are angry over Morsi's decree which granted him sweeping powers and enabled him to call a December 15 referendum on a draft constitution boycotted by liberals, leftists and Christians.

As he faces the worst political crisis since he took office in June, Morsi insists the measures are aimed at cutting short a tumultuous transition.

The National Rescue Front, led by high profile dissidents including former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei, ex-Arab League chief Amr Mussa and former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi, on Wednesday called on Morsi to cancel the decree, state media said.

They also urged the scrapping of the referendum and the formation of a new panel to draft a constitution that better reflects Egyptian society.

The decree has deeply polarised the country, pitting Morsi's Islamist supporters against the largely secular-leaning opposition.

Anti-Morsi protests also erupted in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and the central province of Sohag, with the spreading unrest prompting US appeals for restraint.

"We would simply urge that protesters express their views peacefully and that they be given the environment, if you will, to protest peacefully," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.

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