Cairo Protests Turn Violent

The political unrest in Egypt is growing more intense.

On Wednesday, there were violent clashes between opponents and supporters of President Mohammed Morsi outside the presidential palace in Cairo.

Dozens of people were injured.

The Egyptian opposition is demanding that Morsi roll back the decree with which he gave himself sweeping new powers, and that he cancel the upcoming referendum on a new constitution written largely by Morsi’s Islamist supporters.

But the president and his government are not backing down.

Merna el-Bari is a student and a protester in Cairo who was at the demonstrations Wednesday evening.

She says Morsi’s supporters began the violence, with knives and then guns.

His opponents fought back, she said, with broken fence rails and debris.

She says the protesters do not trust Morsi to surrender the powers he has seized by his decree.