In Egypt, protests turn violent as political crisis intensifies

At the moment, Springborg said, the military and Morsi have cemented their relationship through the draft constitution. The document enshrines the military’s autonomy to a degree that surpasses even the Mubarak days, a position the generals might be reluctant to relinquish to secular forces interested in rewriting the charter. But the more they believe that Morsi is mishandling the transition, the more incentive they may have to abandon him, Springborg said, a possibility that may also put pressure on the president to try to settle the crisis.

In some sense, Springborg said, “both sides are looking to the military to decide the future of the country where they are unable as civilians to work it out between themselves.”

Video

Supporters and opponents of Egyptian leader Mohamed Morsi fought with rocks, firebombs and sticks outside the presidential palace in Cairo on Wednesday.

Latest stories from Foreign

North Pole research camp to close before it falls through the cracks

Will Englund

Russian drift station, which went into operation Oct. 1, is threatened by the rapid melt of the Arctic ice sheet.

Moscow says Syrian government agrees ‘in principle’ to join talks

Will Englund and Loveday Morris

The Syrian Opposition Coalition is skeptical about the announcement, cites its ‘lack of clarity.’

Bombs, gunfire rock Afghan capital

Pamela Constable

Afghan police and insurgents wage a gun battle in a Kabul district that includes key government buildings.

Turkish trade undeterred by detours

Kevin Sullivan

Instead of crossing Syria, Turkey’s truckers now sail around it, driving home an age-old truth: In war, commerce improvises.

• WorldViews: Improvising in a time of war

In Britain, Cameron faces conservative backlash

Anthony Faiola

After building a coalition by embracing liberal social issues, prime minister is challenged from the right.

The National Association for Change, a liberal activist group in Egypt, issued a statement Wednesday morning that called on the army to stand by protesters in pushing their demands.

‘My street is all rocks now’

Witnesses in the upscale neighborhood of Heliopolis described scenes of shifting “front lines,” flying stones and flames outside the palace Wednesday night, the chaos punctuated by the periodic crack of tear gas canisters from the riot police.

“My street is all rocks now. Every single car on my street has shattered windows,” said Sarah Wali, a business-development manager who watched the clashes from her balcony.

“The scary part is that a lot of this seems to be anger, and it doesn’t seem to have a point,” she said. “I don’t know how a president is sitting, not making announcements and not trying to calm things down.”

Morsi left the presidential palace Tuesday night amid protests outside. But a palace official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the president and his staff had returned to work on Wednesday.

“Egyptians will gather everywhere and use all viable means, and we will not end this battle we entered for freedom and dignity until we are victorious,” said Mohamed ElBaradei, a former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a leader of an opposition coalition calling itself the National Salvation Front.

Springborg, the professor, called the crisis a significant moment for the Muslim Brotherhood, which, he said, appears to be splitting over how to respond. Some within the administration see the protests as a chance to beat the opposition into submission, he said, while others, including Morsi, are advocating restraint.

Members of the opposition said they have yet to agree on how to proceed if the protests do not halt the government’s march toward a referendum.

Much of the country’s judiciary has come out against Morsi’s decree. But the Supreme Judicial Council said Monday that it would oversee the referendum as a way out of the political crisis, offering the possibility of legal credibility for the vote.

Ingy Hassieb in Cairo and Anne Gearan in Brussels contributed to this report.