Tensions in Egypt continue to flare up

Muslim Brotherhood headquarters were also burned down in several Egyptian cities.

The wave of protests against Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi's constitutional declaration reached a new level when on December 5, thousands of supporters and opponents of the President clashed in front of the Presidential Palace in the capital Cairo.

Meanwhile, the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood were also burned down in many Egyptian cities. This new violent development shows that Egypt is being pushed into a new political crisis.

Clashes broke out outside the Presidential Palace in Cairo's Heliopolis district last night as the opposition and the Muslim Brotherhood called for protests at the site.

Witnesses at the scene said that large numbers of Morsi supporters stormed the tents and chased away the opposition supporters. Both sides used homemade guns, petrol bombs and bricks to attack each other. In response, the Egyptian Interior Ministry had to mobilize 3,000 riot police to reinforce and use tear gas to restore order.

Riots in an Egyptian city (photo: deskofbrian)

According to local media, by the end of yesterday, at least four people had been killed and hundreds more injured in these clashes. This was the bloodiest day of violence since President Mursi issued a controversial constitutional decree on November 22, which led to a wave of massive protests by the opposition.

Also yesterday, in the port city of Suez, protesters set fire to the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood there. Similar situations also took place in a number of other cities such as Ismailia, Alexandria, Mahalla.

It is not yet clear if anyone was injured in the clashes in these cities.

In such a context, Egyptian Vice President Mahmoud Mekki called on President Mursi and the opposition to hold dialogue to seek consensus on the controversial provisions of the constitution - which has been at the heart of recent riots in Egypt. Leaders of President Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood agreed to Vice President Mekki's proposal. However, the opposition said that it would only engage in a serious national dialogue with President Mursi if the controversial Constitutional Declaration was revoked and the referendum process was postponed. The opposition also blamed President Mursi for the violence in the country in recent days.

Speaking at a press conference in Cairo yesterday, Mohamed El Barade, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a key member of the opposition National Salvation Front, stressed: “President Mursi and his government must take full responsibility for the violence that has occurred in Egypt in recent days. We are and have always been ready for dialogue, if the dialogue is based on equality and legality. We will only dialogue if the constitutional decree is revoked and the referendum on the constitution is also stopped.”

Meanwhile, on December 5, the General Assembly of Egyptian Administrative Judges issued a statement completely rejecting President Mursi's controversial Constitutional Declaration, and affirmed that its members will not participate in supervising the upcoming referendum on the Draft Constitution if President Mursi's decree is not revoked.

In addition, the organization also announced that it would boycott any referendum if all judicial bodies did not participate in monitoring. Meanwhile, according to the daily newspaper “Almasry Alyoum”, last night, four presidential advisers announced their resignations in protest of the attacks on protesters outside the Presidential Palace as well as recent decisions by Mr. Mursi.

Given the current complicated situation, the Chairman of the Egyptian Constituent Assembly said that President Mursi may cancel two controversial articles in the Constitutional Declaration issued on November 22, which are Articles 2 and 6, which stipulate that judicial agencies do not have the right to review or cancel any decision of the president./.

According to VOV - DT