Morsi dismisses calls for early polls

On Friday, in an interview with the state-run Al-Ahram daily, Morsi said calls for an early presidential election are both “absurd and illegal.”

“We are in a country with a constitution and law. We had free and fair elections and the talk about early presidential elections is absurd and illegal,” Morsi said.

“Violating the law, the use of violence or inciting for it are unacceptable and will not be permitted,” he added.

On Friday evening, clashes broke out in Cairo between security forces and members of the Black Block, a group of young masked men opposed to president Morsi’s. Protesters threw stones at the Central Security forces, MENA State news agency reported.

The clashes came after the group’s campaign headquarter was set ablaze by unidentified attackers early in the day.

The group blamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood for the attack. However, a Brotherhood spokesman, Mourad Aly, rejected the allegation, saying there is no reason to “burn the office of a group (of activists) as weak as this.”

On June 30, Morsi marks one year in power as Egypt’s first freely elected president.

Egypt has witnessed continuing anti-government protests since Morsi took office in June 2012 in landmark elections held following the ouster of Mubarak after 30 years in power.

The opposition groups accuse the government of being dominated by Muslim Brotherhood.

On February 24, the protesters gathered near Cairo’s main administrative building, Mugamma where they chanted anti-Morsi slogans. Demonstrators also called on the president of the North African country to fulfill his election promises. The protesters reportedly shut the doors of the Mugamma.

On February 8, thousands of Egyptian opposition protesters took to the streets to rally against Morsi after calls from nearly 40 opposition parties and groups for mass demos across the country on the “Friday of dignity.”