Thousands Protest Egypt Presidential Decree

A day after Egypt's Islamist president Mohammed Morsi decreed himself sweeping new powers, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Cairo and across the country. State TV reported that protesters burned offices of the political arm of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group in the cities of Alexandria, Ismailiyah and Port Said, while Islamists engaged in fistfights with Morsi opponents in southern Egypt. Tens of thousands of Egyptians angered by Morsi's decisions converged on Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of protests that brought down former president Hosni Mubarak, chanting anti-Morsi slogans. "The people want to bring down the regime," some protesters shouted. Large crowds opposed to Morsi also gathered in the predominantly Christian neighborhood of Shubra and on the west bank of the Nile in the Muhandeseen neighborhood, and in the working-class neighborhood of Seyda Zeinab, a large banner picturing Morsi as a pharaoh read, "Down with the president." Later, Morsi spoke to large crowds of Islamist and Muslim Brotherhood supporters outside the presidential palace. Islamist speakers took turns riling the crowds with anti-Israel slogans as supporters chanted, "The people support the president's decree."