Mursi Offers to Postpone Egypt Refereudum

In a surprise announcement, Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi announced he was ready to delay a referendum on the constitution scheduled for December 15, a day after the Islamist leader called for national dialogue but held firm on the Date of the referendum.

Vice-President Mahmoud Mekki said that Mursi was willing to defer to a later date the referendum, thereby appearing to meet one of the opposition’s key demands.

News of the statement was greeted with cheers by a crowd of several thousand of secular demonstrators who had pushed aside barbed wire and scaled concrete barriers to take their protest against the President and his Muslim Brotherhood leadership right up to the walls of his palace in suburban Cairo.

Protests against the Mursi turned violent few days earlier, leaving seven people dead and more than 600 injured, with several offices for the Muslim Brotherhood were torched.

The streets of Cairo were calm early Saturday after a huge protest overnight against Mursi, who has expanded his powers in a November 22 decree, which gave him sweeping new powers free from judicial review.

Hundreds of demonstrators who had slept in tents or a nearby mosque were camped out in front of the presidential palace, while soldiers manned barbed wire barricades on roads to the square and tanks stood by.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Muslim Brotherhood urged the group’s supporters to practice self-restraint after the protesters gathered in front of a mosque near the presidential palace. He appealed for them not to march to the palace and to avoid confrontation.

Overnight, more than 10,000 people had filled the square for an hours-long demonstration calling for Mursi to step down.
On Thursday, Mursi has called for a national dialogue. However secular opposition has rejected.