Egypt’s Morsi Annuls Most of Contested Decree, Stays Firm on Dec. 15 Referendum
Egypt’s Morsi Annuls Most of Contested Decree, Stays Firm on Dec. 15 Referendum
…Rescinding the decree satisfies a key demand of opposition leaders. But a Dec. 15 referendum on a new constitution, which opposition forces wanted canceled, will go ahead as planned, Awa said.
The compromise was reached at a meeting Saturday that Morsi had billed as a national dialogue but that was boycotted by all but a handful of opposition figures who had earlier said that if the referendum was going ahead, there was nothing to talk about.
It remains unclear whether the new moves will be enough to ease a political crisis that had degenerated in recent days into unprecedented scenes of division, with Morsi’s Islamist backers and his secular and liberal opponents hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails and beating each other bloody with sticks.
Tanks were deployed to the streets around the palace where those clashes took place.