The confrontation started in the evening after Islamist protesters marching in support of President Mohammed Morsi, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, moved to break up a demonstration by the president's non-Islamist opponents outside the presidential palace in Cairo, where Mr. Morsi has his offices. Rival demonstrations also were held outside the Brotherhood's headquarters in the Cairo suburb of Moqatam and security officials said senior Brotherhood official Sobhi Saleh was hospitalized in Alexandria after being severely beaten by Morsi opponents. 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. 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. “Vicious attack vs. peaceful protesters in front of presidential palace,” tweeted Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition leader. "We will not enter any dialogue until the constitutional decree is rescinded and the constitutional referendum is postponed," said Mr. ElBaradei, adding that they will pursue "any means necessary" to restore democracy and dignity to Egypt. He wouldn't rule out that Mr. Morsi could order their arrest on those grounds. At the palace early Thursday, police fired tear gas into a crowd that was divided by the newly erected cordon. But Wednesday's street battles were the worst between Morsi's supporters and followers and came after an implicit call by the Muslim Brotherhood for its members to go to the palace and evict anti-Morsi protesters who had camped out there. "The problem is that these people could say no in the [Dec. 15 constitutional] referendum, but they don't want a referendum," said Morsi supporter Ahmed Abdel Khaleq, a 29-year-old accountant. "I don't want Morsi to back down," said Khaled Omar, a Brotherhood supporter. 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.
– 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."