Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in Cairo on Friday as the Opposition piled pressure on Islamist President Mohamed Morsi after a panel rushed through a draft constitution seen to undermine basic freedoms.

“Down with the constitutional assembly,” crowds chanted on megaphones as they filed into Tahrir Square, epicentre of the uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak in early 2011.

Banners condemned “dictatorial Morsi” while protesters shouted “down with the rule of the Guide,” a reference to the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, through whose ranks Morsi rose before becoming president.

The marches, led by Opposition figures, set off from several Cairo districts early in the day to join the protesters in the square. The Islamist-dominated assembly, tasked with drafting a new charter to replace the one suspended after Mubarak’s ouster, approved the draft early on Friday after an almost 24 hour-long session boycotted by liberals and Christians.

The panel’s head, Hossam el-Ghiriani, said a delegation from the Constituent Assembly would visit Morsi on Saturday to present him the draft constitution.

Morsi is expected to call for a referendum within two weeks.

Rights activists say the charter undermines freedoms of women and religious minorities while the Opposition says it was rushed through to force an early referendum.

The constitution has taken centre stage in the country’s worst political crisis since Morsi’s election in June, squaring largely Islamist forces against liberal groups.

The crisis was sparked when Morsi issued a decree on November 22 giving himself sweeping powers and placing his decisions beyond judicial review.

His decree prevented the constitutional court from ruling on the constituent assembly’s legality, as it was meant to do on Sunday. A court had disbanded an earlier panel.

A coalition of leading dissidents formed in protest at the decree has warned that an ongoing judicial strike could escalate into mass civil disobedience.

The strike, called by the top Cassation Court and several other tribunals to protest the decree, could place the referendum in jeopardy, if judges refuse to grant it legitimacy.

Rights activists lambasted the charter, with Human Rights Watch saying it “protects some rights but undermines others”.

“Rushing through a draft while serious concerns about key rights protections remain unaddressed will create huge problems down the road,” the US organisation’s Middle East director Joe Stork said.

The document retained a vague Mubarak-era constitution article stating that the “principles of Islamic law” are the main source of legislation. (AFP)

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