Fragile State

Morsi's Opponents Call for Protests

Anger is reaction to president's new powers.

Egypt's fragile democracy is once again in a precarious position after President Mohamed Morsi granted himself sweeping powers on Friday, leading to protests in Tahrir Square and elsewhere. Morsi, who took control in the country’s first election after Hosni Mubarak was deposed, gave himself power over the judiciary branch, and the move has united the opposition party and average Egyptians alike against the president. Soon after Morsi's decision, Egypt's top judges called the move an "unprecedented attack" on judicial independence, and the Obama administration expressed concern over the apparent dissolution of the separation of powers. The State Department says the action goes against the intent of the revolution, which was to ensure that "power would not be overly concentrated in the hands of any one person or institution."