Morsi invites opposition to meeting

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has called for a national dialog meeting with opposition groups as his opponents set fire to the Muslim Brotherhood’s main headquarters in the capital Cairo.

“I call for a full, productive dialogue with all figures and heads of parties, revolutionary youth and senior legal figures… this Saturday,” said Morsi in a televised speech on Thursday.

Describing recent clashes in the country as unacceptable, he added, “We respect peaceful freedom of speech, but will never allow anyone to take part in killings and sabotage.”

Morsi also said that some of the arrested perpetrators of the violence confessed that they had received “black money from some political parties.”

He also assured people that the former dictatorial regime of Hosni Mubarak cannot return to power in the country.

The president said a constitutional decree, which grants him sweeping powers, is part of his “duties as Egypt’s president… to safeguard the interests of the nation.”

Shortly after the speech, opponents of the president set fire to the Muslim Brotherhood’s headquarters in the capital.

“Two hundred thugs went to the headquarters. Security tried to prevent them, but some got through the back door, ransacked it and set it on fire,” said Mahmoud Ghozlan, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Meanwhile, the country’s April 6 Youth Movement rejected Morsi’s call for dialogue and vowed to hold fresh protests against the president on Friday.

On November 22, Morsi issued a decree declaring that no judicial body can dissolve the Constituent Assembly, which was writing the draft of the constitution.

The decree allows the president to take “any decision or measure to protect the revolution.” It also makes decisions and laws issued by the president “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.

On November 30, the Constituent Assembly approved the final draft of the new constitution.

During his Thursday’s speech, Morsi also reaffirmed that a referendum on the new constitution will be held on December 15.