An Egyptian court adjourned the murder trial of deposed president Mohamed Morsi to February 1, citing "weather conditions" that prevented the Islamist's transport to court from his prison.
It had been scheduled as the second hearing in Morsi's trial, after a court appearance in November in which he denounced the tribunal and insisted he was still the country's president.
Morsi, toppled by the military in July, is accused of inciting the killings of opposition protesters in December 2012 outside the presidential palace.
He is on trial with 14 co-defendants, but only some were brought on Wednesday to the makeshift court house in a police academy on Cairo's outskirts.
"Because of the weather conditions, Mohamed Morsi could not be brought, so the trial will be adjourned to February 1," presiding judge Ahmed Sabry Youssef said.
Morsi is detained in prison about 60 kilometres from the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
Elsewhere, police fired tear gas at Morsi's supporters who had rallied in protest at the trial.
In Cairo's Nasr City neighbourhood, tyres were burnt and car windows were smashed. Police made 14 arrests.
In the police academy, defendants were held in a room next to the courtroom as they waited for the hearing to start.
"This is a political trial," yelled Essam al-Erian, one of the defendants and a senior member of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement.
His lawyer, Bahaa el-Din Abdel Rahman, told AFP his client and other defendants were on hunger strikes and they reaffirmed that they rejected the trial.
Morsi's trial is seen as a test for Egypt's new authorities, who have come under fire for heavy-handedness.
With more than 1000 people killed since Morsi's overthrow and thousands of Islamists arrested, the chances of political reconciliation in the Arab world's most populous nation are ever more remote.
Morsi will also face separate trials on charges of espionage and colluding with militants to carry out attacks in Egypt.
He was catapulted from the underground offices of the long-banned Muslim Brotherhood to become Egypt's first freely elected president in June 2012 following Mubarak's overthrow in an early 2011 uprising.
But his single year in power was marred by political turmoil, deadly clashes and a crippling economic crisis.
In December 2012, members of the Muslim Brotherhood attacked opposition protesters camped outside the presidential palace in protest at a decree by Morsi to grant himself extra-judiciary powers.
At least seven people were killed in the clashes, and dozens of opposition protesters were detained and beaten by Morsi's supporters.
The incident was a turning point in Morsi's presidency, galvanising a disparate opposition that eventually organised mass protests in June 2012 that prompted the military to oust and detain the Islamist.
Morsi's defence says there is no proof he had incited the clashes, and that most of those killed in the violence were Brotherhood members.
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