Egypt: Mohammed Morsi calls for dialogue as protests rage Following the speech, the main opposition alliance, the National Salvation Front, said it was assessing Mr Morsi's offer of talks, but some pro-democracy activists declared they would not take part. The speech did little to quell ongoing violence on the streets of Cairo, which has left at least six dead and some 700 injured, with angry protestors storming the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood and setting fire to the building. Two hundred thugs went to the headquarters. Security tried to prevent them, but some got through the back door, ransacked it and set it on fire. It is still burning now," Mahmud Ghozlan, a Brotherhood spokesman, said. In recent days, anti-Morsi protesters have called for the downfall of the regime in mass demonstrations outside the presidential palace in Cairo. They are furious with the president for his assumption of new powers and what they feel is the railroading through by an Islamist-dominated panel of a draft constitution. Last night, Mr Morsi, who was elected in June, insisted that his powers of decree would remain in place but would end after the referendum, whether the document was approved or not. He said he would form a new assembly to write a new version of the constitution if the current draft was rejected. The president spoke after a day in which Egyptian troops had deployed tanks and set up a barbed wire barrier outside the presidential palace. They ordered a crowd of both pro- and anti-Morsi demonstrators to fall back. The deployment followed violence on Wednesday night in which seven people were killed and about 700 injured in clashes between Islamists and opposition activists. Another 50 people were arrested. Gen Mohammed Zaki, the head of the Republican Guard, said the tanks were deployed to separate the feuding sides, pledging that the military "will not be an instrument of oppression." Mr Morsi, who often spends the night at his private home in another Cairo suburb, arrived at the palace early yesterday. Egypt's top Islamic body, Al-Azhar, told him he should "suspend the latest decree and stop using it," while also demanding an unconditional dialogue between the president and his opponents. Four of Mr Morsi's advisers have quit over the crisis, and the head of state television has also resigned, according to reports. The opposition says it will not stand down until Mr Morsi surrenders his new powers - which put his decisions beyond judicial review - and until he cancels the snap referendum on the new constitution opposed by liberals and Christians. By Our Foreign Staff MOHAMMED MORSI called for dialogue in Egypt last night, as the embattled president addressed the nation for the first time since street clashes erupted after he took sweeping new powers. Speaking in a televised address, the president remained defiant, saying he would not tolerate anyone working towards the overthrow of his "legitimate" government. "We respect peaceful freedom of speech but will never allow anyone to take part in killings and sabotage," he said. Mr Morsi vowed to push on with a Dec 15 referendum on a controversial new constitution, saying "afterwards, there should be no obstacle and everyone must follow its will." He invited political groups, judges and the opposition to meet on Saturday for talks over the political crisis gripping the country. I call for a full, productive dialogue with all figures and heads of parties, revolutionary youth and senior legal figures to meet this Saturday.