Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Shaimaa Khalil: "Morsi attempting to assert control" 
 
 Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has ordered the military to maintain security and protect state institutions in the run-up to a controversial referendum on a new constitution. 
 
 The army has also been given the power to arrest civilians. 
 
 Mr Morsi has tried to calm public anger by annulling a decree giving him huge powers, but rejected a call to scrap the 15 December constitutional vote. 
 
 Opposition leaders called for protests on Tuesday against the referendum. 
 
 The opposition was "not aiming at toppling the president" but wanted a better constitution, former Foreign Minister Amr Moussa told the BBC. 
 
 Islamist groups have said they will hold counter demonstrations, raising fears of further bloody clashes on the streets of the Egyptian capital. 
 
 Egypt's crisis 22 Nov: Presidential decree gives Mr Morsi sweeping new powers 
 
 Presidential decree gives Mr Morsi sweeping new powers 30 Nov: Islamist-dominated constituent assembly adopts draft constitution 
 
 Islamist-dominated constituent assembly adopts draft constitution 1 Dec: Mr Morsi sets 15 December as date for constitutional referendum 
 
 Mr Morsi sets 15 December as date for constitutional referendum 2 Dec: Judges go on strike 
 
 Judges go on strike 5 Dec: Clashes outside presidential palace 
 
 Clashes outside presidential palace 7 Dec: Protesters breach palace cordon 
 
 Protesters breach palace cordon 8 Dec: Mr Morsi rescinds his presidential decree but remains firm on referendum 
 
 In another apparent concession, the president suspended a big tax increase on the sale of a variety of goods including soft drinks, cigarettes and beer. 
 
 The decision was carried in a statement that appeared on Mr Morsi's Facebook page in the early hours of Monday, state-owned al-Ahram newspaper reported. 
 
 Weakened police 
 
 As tension increased before Saturday's referendum, Mr Morsi ordered the military to maintain security "up to the announcement of the results from the referendum", AFP news agency reports. 
 
 The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says the step will raise fears that Egypt is moving back towards military rule. 
 
 Under the new presidential decree, the military is asked to co-ordinate with the police on maintaining security and is also entitled to arrest civilians. 
 
 The police have been seen as weakened since the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak and failed to intervene when anti-Muslim Brotherhood protesters ransacked the Islamist movement's Cairo headquarters last week, correspondents say. 
 
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 An increased military presence was visible on Monday close to the presidential palace, which has been the focus of opposition demonstrations. The army has sealed off the area with concrete blocks. 
 
 It is not yet clear whether the opposition will boycott Saturday's referendum. However, a group of senior judges announced on Monday that they would be prepared to oversee the vote, on certain conditions. 
 
 Votes in Egypt are traditionally supervised by the judiciary but the 22 November presidential decree led thousands of judges to go on strike. 
 
 Now, with the decree rescinded, the State Council Judges' Club has agreed to oversee the vote as long as pro-Morsi supporters call a halt to a sit-in outside Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court. 
 
 The court suspended work on 2 December, citing "psychological pressure" from Islamists who had prevented a meeting on a draft of the new constitution. The protesters had wanted to block a ruling on the legality of the document. 
 
 'Division and sedition' 
 
 The opposition argues that the constitution was drafted by an assembly dominated by Mohammed Morsi's Islamist allies. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Nobel peace laureate and founder of the Constitution Party, Mohamed ElBaradei: "The whole process is hostage to religious institution rather than judiciary" 
 
 In a statement after talks on Sunday, the opposition National Salvation Front said it would not recognise the draft constitution "because it does not represent the Egyptian people". 
 
 "We reject the referendum which will certainly lead to more division and sedition," spokesman Sameh Ashour said. 
 
 In a BBC interview, one of the Front's main leaders, Amr Moussa, insisted they were not "aiming at doing anything that would lead to the disintegration of the state". 
 
 "Why should we make the people swallow a constitution that could have been much better and should have been much better?" 
 
 On Sunday, hundreds of opposition protesters protested against the referendum outside the presidential palace. 
 
 Analysis Many Egyptians are furious that their lives have not got better since the revolution. They point to a lack of reform, with no economic progress, no attempt to cleanse the notoriously brutal and corrupt police force, let alone any success in sorting out Egypt's many other problems, such as the piles of rubbish on the streets, the terrible traffic, and the filthy and polluted environment. As for President Morsi, he is fighting a battle on two fronts. While many opponents object to the Islamic tendencies in the new constitution, he is also under enormous pressure not to give ground to the liberals. No easy way out of Egypt crisis 
 
 They chanted anti-Muslim Brotherhood slogans and held up banners reading slogans such as "Morsi, hold back your thugs" and "The people demand the fall of the regime". 
 
 But Mohamed Soudan, foreign relations secretary of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, said Mr Morsi was constitutionally bound to go ahead with the vote because the date had been announced by the constituent assembly. 
 
 The president says he is trying to safeguard the revolution that overthrew Hosni Mubarak last year, but his critics accuse him of acting like a dictator. 
 
 Mr Morsi's decree of 22 November stripped the judiciary of any right to challenge his decisions and triggered violent protests. 
 
 Although the decree has been annulled, some decisions taken under it still stand. 
 
 The general prosecutor, who was dismissed, will not be reinstated, and the retrial of former regime officials will go ahead. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Khaled Ezzelarab: "The president seems to have lost control over the security forces" 
 
 Anti-government protesters in Egypt have stormed the national headquarters of President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood in the capital, Cairo. 
 
 People ransacked the building in the Moqattam area and set parts on fire. 
 
 Officials say eight people have been killed in clashes outside since Sunday, while eight others have died elsewhere. 
 
 Meanwhile, four ministers are reported to have resigned, a day after millions took to the streets across the country to demand the president leave power. 
 
 The al-Watan website said the ministers of tourism, environment, communication and legal affairs had acted "in solidarity with the people's demand to overthrow the regime". 
 
 On Monday afternoon, Egyptian state television reported the armed forces would issue a statement on the situation later in the day, but did not provide further details. 
 
 Earlier, the opposition movement behind the protests, Tamarod (Revolt), gave Mr Morsi until Tuesday afternoon to step down and call fresh presidential elections, or else face a campaign of civil disobedience. 
 
 Analysis All sides in Egypt were surprised by the huge scale of the demonstrations against the president. The opposition is a broad and informal coalition, which ranges from supporters of the old Mubarak regime to people who risked their lives to topple it. Their challenge is to find a way to sustain the momentum of Sunday's protests. President Morsi's spokesman has called for dialogue. For that to work, the president would have to offer major concessions, perhaps on a rewritten constitution. He showed no signs of conciliation during a major political speech last week, instead appealing to his Muslim Brotherhood base. As for the demonstrators, they have called for his resignation and early elections. Political chaos looks likely to continue. 
 
 Protesters across Egypt accuse the president of failing to tackle economic and security problems since being elected a year ago. His supporters insist he needs more time. 
 
 'Dangerous' 
 
 The crowds seen in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday were the biggest since the 2011 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak. 
 
 Protests and sporadic outbreaks of violence were reported nationwide. 
 
 The health ministry said at least 16 people had been killed and 781 injured since Sunday. 
 
 Three people died in the central province of Assiut, and another four in Alexandria, Fayoum, Beni Suef and Kafr al-Sheikh. Another protester suffocated to death at a protest outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace in Cairo. 
 
 Eight people were killed in clashes around the Muslim Brotherhood's headquarters in Moqattam, the ministry added. 
 
 Overnight, protesters threw petrol bombs and rocks at armed guards inside the six-storey building, who retaliated by firing at them. 
 
 On Monday morning, the protesters stormed the headquarters and began throwing objects out of broken windows. One protester was seen removing parts of the signage, while another waved an Egyptian flag from a window. Later, people began walking out carrying office equipment. 
 
 Image caption Protesters ransacked the Cairo headquarters of President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group early on Monday. Image caption Earlier, the Tamarod protest group gave Mr Morsi a day to leave step down, a year after he took office. Image caption The crowd in Tahrir Square on Sunday was the biggest since the revolution in 2011. Hundreds returned to the square on Monday. Image caption Many protesters spent the night on the streets of Cairo, including outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace. Image caption Protesters across Egypt have accused the president of failing to tackle economic and security problems. previous slide next slide 
 
 "This is a historic moment. The Brotherhood ruined the country, so stealing from them is justified," one man, named Mohammed, told the AFP news agency. 
 
 Many protesters accuse the president of putting the Brotherhood's interests ahead of the country's as a whole. 
 
 Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad criticised the security forces for failing to protect the building and warned that the movement was considering action to defend itself. 
 
 "It's very dangerous for one entity in society to take up violence as a means of change because it may entice others to do so," he told the Reuters news agency. 
 
 Mr Haddad noted that self-defence committees had been set up during the 2011 uprising, and said the Brotherhood's Guidance Bureau would make an announcement later on Monday. 
 
 "The people will not sit silent," he added. 
 
 'Constitutional legitimacy' 
 
 Some protesters had spent the night camped out in Tahrir Square and also in front of the Ittihadiya presidential palace to the north-east. They vowed to stay there until the president stepped down. 
 
 One man heading to the palace was confident it would not take long. 
 
 Tamarod (Revolt) The Tamarod movement says more than 22 million people have signed a petition complaining that: Security has not been restored since the 2011 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak 
 
 The poor "have no place" in society 
 
 The government has had to "beg" the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $4.8bn loan to help shore up the public finances 
 
 There has been "no justice" for people killed by security forces during the uprising and at anti-government protests since then 
 
 "No dignity is left" for Egyptians or their country 
 
 The economy has "collapsed", with growth poor and inflation high 
 
 Egypt is "following in the footsteps" of the US Egypt deeply polarised as Morsi marks first year 
 
 "Mubarak took only 18 days although he had behind him the security, intelligence and a large sector of Egyptians," Amr Tawfeeq told the Associated Press. 
 
 Earlier, Tamarod issued a statement saying the protesters would give Mr Morsi until 17:00 (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday to leave power and allow state institutions to prepare for early presidential elections. 
 
 Otherwise, people would begin a campaign of "complete civil disobedience", the group warned. 
 
 It urged "state institutions including the army, the police and the judiciary, to clearly side with the popular will as represented by the crowds". 
 
 The group also rejected offers of dialogue from the president. 
 
 "There is no way to accept any half measures," it said. "There is no alternative other than the peaceful end of power of the Muslim Brotherhood and its representative, Mohammed Morsi." 
 
 On Saturday, Tamarod said it had collected more than 22 million signatures - more than a quarter of Egypt's population - in support. 
 
 But Mr Morsi was defiant in an interview published on Sunday, rejecting the opposition calls for early presidential elections. 
 
 "If we changed someone in office who [was elected] according to constitutional legitimacy - well, there will be people opposing the new president too, and a week or a month later they will ask him to step down," he told the Guardian newspaper. 
 
 "There is no room for any talk against this constitutional legitimacy. There can be demonstrations and people expressing their opinions. But what's critical in all this is the adoption and application of the constitution." ||||| Tens of thousands march to the presidential palace in Cairo, undeterred by riot police and tear gas. 
 
 CAIRO — Anger between Egypt’s rival political camps erupted into street battles Wednesday after Islamist supporters of President Mohamed Morsi tore down tents of anti-government demonstrators, raising the possibility of widening violence over the nation’s proposed constitution. 
 
 Pro-Morsi factions overran about 200 protesters camped outside the presidential palace in north Cairo. The clashes came after the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party called thousands of its members into the streets in a counter-demonstration to drive opposition movements from the presidential palace. 
 
 Shoving and punching spilled down a boulevard as hurled stones, swinging sticks and firebombs filled the dusk in one of the capital’s wealthiest neighborhoods. Pro-Morsi contingents, including Brotherhood followers and ultraconservative Salafis, chased opposition activists shouting: “God is great. The people support the president’s decision.” 
 
 More than 125 people were injured on a cityscape that had the charged air of a flourescent-lit battlefield with competing banners, bandaged men and dinner trays used as shields to block barrages of rocks. 
 
 Police were slow to react but eventually arrived and attempted to separate the two sides even as the skirmishes raised fears that animosity between Islamists and the mainly secular opposition were a dangerous foreshadowing. Both camps threatened to march against each other and there appeared little compromise in a battle over the nation’s future that symbolizes the larger struggle over political Islam rising from the Arab Spring. 
 
 “Vicious attack vs. peaceful protesters in front of presidential palace,” tweeted Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition leader. “Regime leading Egypt into violence and bloodshed.” 
 
 The clashes revealed new cracks in Morsi’s government from officials disturbed by the power and meddling of the Brotherhood. Three presidential advisors resigned, including Seif Abdel-Fattah, who told the Egyptian media: “Egypt is bigger than a narrow-minded elite .... We can no longer stay silent because they [the Brotherhood] have harmed the nation and the revolution.” 
 
 Tensions began two weeks ago when Morsi, a former Brotherhood leader, issued a decree that expanded his powers and protected the Islamist-dominated constitutional assembly from judicial oversight. The country’s highest court was expected to dissolve the assembly but delegates quickly finished a draft constitution that Morsi ordered be put to a national referendum Dec. 15. 
 
 Opposition factions marched on the presidential palace Tuesday to protest Morsi’s authority and the charter, which they say would open the country to Islamic law and a scaling back of civil rights. The demonstration angered the Brotherhood, which on Saturday avoided confrontation with the opposition by holding a massive rally miles away from Tahrir Square, where anti-Morsi movements have made their base. 
 
 But the Brotherhood on Wednesday was more aggressive: “The president will not retreat, and if the state apparatus is weakened by the wounds of the previous period, then the people can impose their will and protect legitimacy,” said Essam Erian, deputy head of the Freedom and Justice Party. 
 
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 Indian Olympic officials defy IOC, pick corruption suspect as leader 
 
 Special correspondent Gaser El Safty contributed to this report.
– Violent protests in Cairo have reached a pitch not seen since the days of Egypt's recent revolution, the Wall Street Journal reports: Tens of thousands of demonstrators battled on the streets yesterday, with the AP reporting five dead and more than 600 injured as some threw rocks and Molotov cocktails. The Egyptian army deployed tanks outside the presidential palace today, as Mohamed Morsi conducted business as usual inside. The AP notes that all appeared calm this morning, with thousands of Morsi supporters camping outside the palace after driving away opposition activists. The fighting had centered around the palace, where police established a barrier between the groups. Supporters of Morsi stormed an encampment of 200 protesters, ripping down their tents, the Los Angeles Times reports. "The problem is that these people could say no" in an upcoming constitutional referendum, "but they don't want a referendum," said one Morsi backer. "They don't want a democracy." Meanwhile, three of Morsi's non-Brotherhood aides have quit: "Egypt is bigger than a narrow-minded elite," said Seif Abdel Fattah. "We can no longer stay silent because (the Brotherhood has) harmed the nation and the revolution."