More than 200,000 people entered Cairo’s central Tahrir Square on Tuesday night to protest a constitutional decree issued last week by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi that gives him near total power over Egyptian affairs and protects the Islamist-dominated assembly writing the country's new constitution.
Morsi's move, which simultaneously angered and mobilized both secularists and liberals, led to country-wide attacks on the offices of the Muslim Brotherhood Freedom and Justice Party.
Sherine Tadros of Al Jazeera notes from Tahrir: "We don't usually see these kind of numbers in demonstrations where the Muslim Brotherhood aren't participating, and the Muslim Brotherhood certainly isn't participating tonight." (Here's the Reuters live stream.)
The chants being heard echo those heard in the square during the Arab Spring revolts that brought down former leader Hosni Mubarak: “The people want to bring down the regime,” and “erhal, erhal” — Arabic for “leave, leave.”
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