Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood calls for pro-Morsi demonstration

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has called on supporters of President Mohamed Morsi to gather outside the presidential palace in the capital Cairo on Wednesday, to express their support for the president’s decisions.

“The Muslim Brotherhood and other popular forces have called for a demonstration outside the Itihadiya palace on Wednesday afternoon to defend legitimacy [of president’s decision] after [protesters] yesterday thought they could impose their opinions through force,” Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, Mahmud Ghozlan, said in a statement earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, opponents of the Egyptian president also called for another anti-Morsi demonstration on the same day near Morsi’s palace to show their outrage at his expanded powers and the constitution that he rushed to promote.

“It has been agreed, in coordination with the revolutionary forces, to have a protest outside the presidential palace. If the Muslim Brotherhood do not attack us, everything will be fine. If they do, we will hold Morsi responsible,” said Mohamed Waked, a spokesman for Egypt’s National Front for Justice and Democracy.

On November 22, Morsi issued a controversial decree permitting him to “issue any decision or law that is final and not subject to appeal.

Since then, thousands of people have staged massive demonstrations in Cairo and a number of other Egyptian cities in protest against the president’s decree and the speedy adoption of a draft constitution.

On November 30, the Constituent Assembly approved the final draft of the new constitution. The president announced that a referendum on the new constitution will be held on December 15. The opposition has boycotted the referendum.