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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Morsi Leaves As Thousands Storm the Palace

Police in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, have clashed with protesters angry at what they say is the rushed drafting of a new constitution and by President Morsi's recent extension of his powers.

Tahrir Square has again become the scene of large-scale protest
Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the presidential palace.

The police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, some of whom managed to cut through barbed wire around the palace.

Mr Morsi was in the palace but left as the crowds grew, sources there said.

Many of those gathered outside the palace, in the suburb of Heliopolis, chanted slogans similar to those directed against the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak during the uprising in February 2011.

Tear gas was fired after protesters managed to breach a barbed wire cordon surrounding the palace, correspondents say.

But the police quickly retreated, allowing protesters to get closer to the palace walls.

Eighteen people were injured in the brief burst of violence but none seriously, the official Mena news agency reported.

Large crowds remained outside as night fell, while thousands of demonstrators also gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

"We won't be able to speak - there won't be a court that we can go talk to," one protester, Israa Wafid, told Reuters.

"He has made himself a fort and he says it is a temporary fort - this is something we cannot believe.

"We've spent 30 years being betrayed - we won't believe Morsi, he will remain seated in the chair and not leave it."  (Continues)

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