Egyptian President Morsi leaves presidential palace as protests turn violent

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

CAIRO – Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi left the presidential palace Tuesday as violence erupted between police and at least 100,000 protesters gathered in Cairo.

In a brief outburst, police fired tear gas to stop protesters approaching the palace in the capital's Heliopolis district. Morsi was in the palace conducting business as usual while the protesters gathered outside. But he left for home through a back door when the crowds "grew bigger," according to a presidential official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The official said Morsi left on the advice of security officials at the palace and to head off "possible dangers" and to calm protesters. Morsi's spokesman, however, said the president left the palace at the end of his work schedule through the door he routinely uses.

The violence erupted when protesters pushed aside a barricade topped with barbed wire several hundred yards from the palace walls. Police fired tear gas, and then retreated. With that barricade removed, protesters moved closer to the palace's walls, with police apparently choosing not to try and push the crowds back.

Soon afterwards, police abandoned the rest of the barricades, allowing the crowds to surge ahead to the walls of the palace complex. But there were no attempts to storm the palace, guarded inside by the army's Republican Guard.

The brief outburst of violence left 18 people injured, none seriously, according to the official MENA news agency.

Protesters gathered as tensions grew over Morsi's seizure of nearly unrestricted powers and a draft constitution hurriedly adopted by his allies.

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Morsi makes a hasty retreat.

[Valin]

@WestVirginiaRebel

 

Clashes outside Egypt presidential palace in Cairo

 

 

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