Egypt’s opposition yesterday called for mass street protests tomorrow rejecting a December 15 referendum on a new constitution largely drafted by President Mohamed Morsi’s Islamist allies.
“We do not recognise the draft constitution because it does not represent the Egyptian people,” the opposition National Salvation Front said in a statement read out at a news conference by spokesman Sameh Ashour.
“We reject the referendum which will certainly lead to more division and sedition,” he said.
“The Front calls for demonstrations in the capital and in the regions on Tuesday as a rejection of the president’s decision that goes against our legitimate demands,” he said.
The statement also condemned “militias” from the Muslim Brotherhood backing Morsi and “terrorist gangs.”
The protest call means Egypt’s weeks-long political crisis was to continue, despite Morsi on Saturday making a key concession to the opposition by rescinding a controversial November decree that had given him expanded powers free from judicial review. Tomorrow’s demonstrations could possibly lead to more violence if Morsi’s supporters challenge them, as occurred on Wednesday when seven people were killed and hundreds injured in vicious clashes outside the presidential palace.
Morsi, speaking through an aide, said, however, he was maintaining that a December 15 referendum on a controversial new constitution drafted by a panel dominated by his Islamist allies would still be held.
The opposition had previously said it would sustain its protests until Morsi scrapped both the decree and the referendum.
Some opposition groups were already insisting Morsi’s decree concession did not go far enough.
The April 6 Youth Movement dismissed it as “a political manoeuvre aimed at duping the people,” and called for continued protests to stop “the referendum on the constitution of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Prominent opposition leader Mohamed El Baradei – a former UN atomic agency chief and a Nobel Peace laureate – tweeted that “a constitution that curtails our rights and freedoms is a constitution we will topple.”
Demonstrators furious at what they saw as a power grab by Morsi and the railroading of the draft constitution have held weeks of street rallies whose demands have escalated into calls for the presi-dent’s resignation.
On Wednesday, clashes between the pro- and anti-Morsi demonstrators outside the presidential palace killed seven people and injured more than 600.
The army stepped in, deploying tanks and troops around the palace. Soldiers reinforced barricades on access roads early yesterday, piling up concrete blocks three metres high, an AFP correspondent reported.
Air force F-16 warplanes also flew low over the city centre. The official Mena news agency described the unusually low flyover as an exercise against “hostile air attacks and to secure important state installations.”