Egypt's opposition rejects Mohammed Morsi compromise on constitution We reject the referendum which will certainly lead to more division and sedition. The compromise was "a continuation of deception in the name of law and legitimacy," said the April 6 Movement, a left-wing group behind last year's revolution against former president Hosni Mubarak which is part of the Front. The Brotherhood is confident it has enough groundswell support to win the referendum, which will be decided on a straight majority. They believe that the liberals represent a minority view within Egypt as a whole, which is happy to see the emphasis on Islam that runs through parts of the constitutional draft. "The seculars and liberals are mobilising people to bring down the Islamic state," Mohammed Bishawi, a long-time Muslim Brotherhood member, said at a counter-rally at the organisation's headquarters on the outskirts of Cairo. The building was ransacked by an angry mob on Thursday night, as had other Brotherhood-linked offices around the country, and the organisation was staging a symbolic demonstration to protect it. Mr Bishawi claimed that the wave of opposition to Mr Morsi in the last two weeks, since he announced his new powers, was "manufactured by the media." "We, the Islamic powers, chosen by democratic election, want to prove to the world that the Egyptian people are with President Morsi and their new constitution," he said. The liberals don't have any real existence on the street. Both sides are now involved in a high-stakes gamble. The opposition risks making itself look irrelevant if the constitution is passed by a large majority. But if the Brotherhood loses the referendum or it has a cripplingly low turnout, it will be a damaging blow to its assumption that political Islam is the dominant voice of Egyptian society. It will also suggest the public accept the opposition view that the Brotherhood is showing increasing authoritarian tendencies. The prosecution service yesterday referred to investigators a Brotherhood claim that named opposition leaders, judges and journalists were conspiring in a plot to overthrow the government. If there is a "no" vote in the referendum, a new 100-member constitutional assembly will have to be elected within three months, a new constitution agreed within six months and put to a referendum within a month after that. Only after that can there be new parliamentary elections, by which time the Brotherhood may have lost the popularity it had when it convincingly won elections earlier this year. Even if he wins the referendum, Mr Morsi will continue to face allegations he has marginalised a substantial minority within the country. The constitutional crisis has overshadowed Egypt's continuing economic crisis, with foreign currency reserves falling to a dangerously low level and budget deficits rising. The government risked further anger on the streets yesterday by announcing increases in sales taxes, including on cooking oil, with a 50 per cent raise in cigarette taxes and a doubling of the beer tax particularly noticeable.