Opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi clashed with his supporters yesterday in the central province of Minya, as protests erupted across the country against his expanded powers.

Protesters marched to the headquarters of Morsi’s Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, and tore down a picture of the president, prompting clashes with his supporters, witnesses said.

Police fired teargas to disperse the crowd and three people were injured in the clashes, a security official told AFP.

Demonstrators also took to the streets in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and the central province of Sohag.

The protests come as tens of thousands of Morsi opponents surrounded the presiden-tial palace in Cairo to denouncea decree which expanded his powers and placed him beyond judicial oversight.

The protesters cut through barbed wire erected a few hundred metres from the palace, prompting police to fire the teargas before retreating, allowing demonstrators to reach the palace walls, AFP correspondents said.

A handful of protesters tried to scale the wall but were brought back down by others.