page_title: 2012–2013 Egyptian protests
section_title: December 2012
hierarchical_section_title: 2012–2013 Egyptian protests / Timeline / December 2012
caption_attribution_description: English: Egyptians go to the polls Saturday in the first day of voting on a controversial new constitution that critics say is too vague on important civil rights issues, and leaves the military in a position of power.
context_page_description: The 2012–2013 Egyptian protests were part of a large scale popular uprising in Egypt against then-President Mohamed Morsi. On 22 November 2012, millions of protesters began protesting against Morsi, after his government announced a temporary constitutional declaration that in effect granted the president unlimited powers. Morsi deemed the decree necessary to protect the elected constituent assembly from a planned dissolution by judges appointed during the Mubarak era.
  The demonstrations were organized by Egyptian opposition organizations and individuals, mainly liberals, leftists, secularists and Christians. The demonstrations resulted in violent clashes between Morsi-supporters and the anti-Morsi protesters, with dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries. Demonstrators gathered outside the presidential palace, which in turn was surrounded by tanks and armored vehicles of the Republican Guard. The anti-Morsi protesters in Cairo were estimated at 200,000, while over 100,000 supporters of Morsi gathered in Cairo to show support. A number of Morsi's advisers resigned in protest, and many judges spoke out against his actions as well.
context_section_description: On 1 December, Morsi announced that a constitutional referendum on the 2012 Draft Constitution of Egypt would be held on 15 December 2012. Islamist backers of Morsi held mass rallies at Cairo University and other cities to support his sweeping new powers and the drafting of a constitution, while several thousand of Morsi's opponents rallied in Tahrir Square to oppose the draft constitution and what they described as Morsi's power grab.
  On 2 December, the Supreme Constitutional Court put off its much-awaited ruling on the legitimacy of the constituent assembly that passed the draft constitution, and on a separate but related decision about whether to dissolve the Shura Council, Egypt's upper house of parliament. It said it was halting all work indefinitely in protest against the "psychological pressure" it had faced, after Islamist protesters earlier prevented the judges from meeting in Cairo. Anti-Morsi protesters continued to occupy Tahrir Square. Leaders of the Judges Club, a powerful but unofficial body which represents judges across the country, announced that its members would refuse to perform their customary roles as election supervisors and would thus try to block a referendum on the new constitution scheduled for 15 December.
  On 3 December the Supreme Judicial Council, said that judges and prosecutors would supervise the constitutional referendum to be held on 15 December despite the Judges Club strike announcement from 2 December. In addition, seven cases against Morsi's call for the referendum were filed in an administrative court
  On 4 December, police fought the demonstrators in front of the Presidential Palace in Cairo. Demonstrators proclaimed a march to the Presidential Palace, calling it "the last warning." The demonstrators cut through a barbed-wire barrier near the Palace, after which police fired tear gas at them as Morsi fled. More violence broke out at the headquarters of the Freedom and Justice Party in Menia, south of Cairo, where the front of the party headquarters was damaged. Egypt Independent, the English-language sister publication of the country's largest independent daily, Al Masry Al Youm, and 10 others did not publish to protest limits on the draft constitution's protections for freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Prosecutor General Talaat Ibrahim Abdallah filed a complaint charging former presidential candidates Moussa and Sabbahi, as well as El-Baradei, Wafd Party president El-Sayyid el-Badawi, and Judges Club head Ahmed al-Zend with espionage and inciting to overthrow the government. The lawyer who filed the report, Hamed Sadeq, claimed that Moussa met with former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and agreed with her to fabricate a crisis. It was further alleged that all of politicians named in the complaint met at the Wafd Party headquarters to execute the "Zionist plot."
  On 5 December 100,000 people were estimated to have protested at the Presidential Palace and at Tahrir Square against Morsi's constitution, asserting it represented an effort to seize control of the judiciary. Many began demanding the "fall of the regime" as they fought running battles with police who deployed tear gas before retreating from the area, outnumbered by protesters. Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood attacked 300 of Morsi's opponents during a sit-in. Members of the Egyptian Popular Current Mohamed Essam and Karam Gergis were killed in the clashes surrounding Heliopolis Palace between protesters against the new Constitution and Muslim Brotherhood members, which attacked the demonstrators with molotov cocktails. The Health Ministry reported four were killed and 271 were injured. Masked men set fire to Muslim Brotherhood offices in Suez, Ismailia and Zagazig.
  On 6 December, supporters of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood held counter protests the next day at the Presidential Palace, and clashed with anti-Morsi protesters in street battles that saw seven people killed and more than 650 injured. Morsi met with Abdul Fatah al-Sisi, chief of the Egyptian Army, and with his cabinet ministers, to di
caption: Tanks sent near the presidential palace
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