With a late-Saturday-night concession, President Mohamed Morsi tried to contain the largest sustained public uprising since the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak. Thousands of anti-Morsi protesters have occupied both Tahrir Square and the streets outside the presidential palace calling for two main demands: the revocation of the Nov. 22 decree that Morsi used to grant himself sweeping new powers and a delay of a Dec. 15 referendum scheduled on a controversial and hastily completed draft constitution. Other (but not all) protesters have been adding a third demand that echoes the Tahrir revolution that toppled Mubarak: irhal, Arabic for leave. Morsi’s late-night stratagem involves heavily modifying the constitutional decree that gave him so much power. The original decree is formally annulled but will likely be replaced by a second upcoming decree. However, the hastily drafted proposed constitution is still on track for a quick national referendum on Dec. 15. Will this be enough to satisfy the protesters outside the palace or the broad opposition coalition that has formed in the past three weeks? (MORE: Why the Military Is Unlikely to Intervene in Egypt’s Messy Power Struggle) Much of the motivation behind Morsi’s original decree was to place the Constituent Assembly — the body drafting the constitution — outside the authority of Egypt’s judiciary. Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood believed Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court was about to dissolve the assembly. The ensuing controversy essentially bought the Constituent Assembly enough time to fast-track a draft and start the clock toward the referendum. The National Salvation Front — which is led by Mohamed ElBaradei and includes former Foreign Minister Amr Moussa and third-place presidential finisher Hamdeen Sabbahi — has steadfastly refused to even meet with Morsi until he rescinded his constitutional decree. All three politicians were absent from the several-hour negotiations on Saturday that produced this latest concession. Instead the talks were attended by a host of fringe politicians, like Islamist scholar Mohamed Selim al-Awa, who attended the Saturday-night press conference to announce the concessions. But ElBaradei and the others also strongly oppose both … Continue reading Morsi Under Siege: Will His Concession Calm Egypt?