Tens of thousands of protesters took the streets in Egypt denouncing President Mohammed Morsy and a draft constitution that his Islamist allies approved early on Friday in a rushed, all-night session without the participation of liberals and Christians.
The sudden adoption of a draft constitution by an Islamist-dominated assembly tasked with producing the document threw the Morsy-protestors confrontation into a new phase. The opposition must now decide how to deal with a nationwide referendum on the document, likely to come in mid-December.
The draft constitution has an Islamist bent. It strengthens provisions that set Islamic law as the basis of legislation, gives clerics a still undefined role in ensuring laws meet Sharia and commits the state to enforce morals and “the traditional family” in broad language that rights activists fear could be used to severely limit many civil liberties.
It installs new protections for Egyptians against some abuses of the Mubarak era.
