Egypt's president increases powers in controversial decree
  • 11 years ago
Has Egypt replaced one autocrat with another?

Some protesters, who have been clashing with police near Tahrir Square on and off since Monday, clearly think so.

A presidential decree on Thursday gave Egypt's Mohamed Mursi increased powers and protects him from any legal challenge until parliamentary elections.

The edict also protects the upper house and the body writing Egypt's constitution, both of which are Islamist-dominated.

This woman says Mursi is destroying the military and judiciary and putting Muslim Brotherhood figures in key power positions.

But others took to the streets in support of the president.

The decree also ordered the retrials of some Mubarak-era officials and implies that Mubarak himself will face a retrial.

The country's first democratically elected leader, Mursi has been hamstrung by Mubarak-era policies and was forced into an embarrassing U-turn in October when he tried to sack the prosecutor general who he replaced shortly after the decree was announced on Thursday.
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