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Egypt: Anti Morsi protest attracts little support

Dunya News

Protesters rallied Friday in Cairo against President Morsi, but a much smaller turn out than hoped.

In Cairos Tahrir Square, where hundreds of thousands rallied to overthrow president Hosni Mubarak early last year, several dozen of Morsis opponents briefly clashed with his supporters before withdrawing, witnesses said.Morsi has men backing him, his victorious partisans chanted. Four people were injured in the clash, including three with birdshot wounds, the official MENA news agency quoted a field medic as saying.In northern Cairo, about 200 protesters gathered near the presidency, which Morsi occupied since his inauguration in June, chanting down with the Supreme Guides rule.They were referring to the leader of the influential Muslim Brotherhood, to which Morsi belongs.The protests take place as Morsi, who assumed office amid a power struggle with the once-ruling military, consolidates his authority while two journalists critical of the president stand trial.The protest organisers demanded that Morsi repeal an interim constitution in which he took over the militarys powers to legislate in the absence of parliament, which the army has dissolved shortly before his election.He also sacked military chief Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and other senior army officials who had ruled the country after Mubaraks overthrow.Brotherhood officials said they believed that the anti-Morsi protesters had hoped that the military would intervene against Morsi if mass protests broke out, repeating the scenario that forced Mubarak to resign.The protest organisers appear to be a mix of ardent secularists and activists nostalgic for Mubaraks rule, such as television station owner and show host Tawfiq Okasha, who faces trial next month.Okasha, whose station has been banned from broadcasting, faces charges of trying to incite Morsis murder.The trial of another journalist, Al-Dustour newspaper editor Islam Afifi, began on Thursday.Afifi was briefly detained after the trial before Morsi, using his contested legislative authority, amended the law allowing detention pending a verdict for media crimes.