Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood party president Mohamed Morsi is being dubbed Egypt's New Pharaoh as he seizes dictatorship powers over other branches of the new Egyptian government. I realize some in the West believe the meaning of democracy might be cyclical in any given region of the world, but it really is not. The Egyptian people are again crowding the streets in mass protest as they find out...

Protesters stormed the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood's party in Alexandria on Friday, throwing chairs and books into the street and setting them alight, after the Egyptian president granted himself sweeping new powers.

Supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and opponents also threw stones at each other near a mosque in the city, Egypt's second largest, a witness said.

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In Port Said, another port on the Mediterranean, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party headquarters and pelted it with rocks. Some tried to storm it but did not enter, another witness said.

In Cairo, thousands demonstrated against the decree issued on Wednesday night.

Morsi's decree exempting all his decisions from legal challenge until a new parliament was elected caused fury amongst his opponents on Friday who accused him of being the new Hosni Mubarak and hijacking the revolution.

Morsi's aides said the decree was to speed up a protracted transition that has been hindered by legal obstacles but Morsi's rivals were quick to condemn him as a new autocratic pharaoh who wanted to impose his Islamist vision on Egypt.

"Morsi a 'temporary' dictator," was the headline in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm and hundreds of protesters in Tahrir Square, the heart of the 2011 anti-Mubarak uprising, demanded Morsi quit, accusing him of launching a "coup".

Buoyed by accolades from around the world for mediating a truce between Hamas and Israel, Morsi on Thursday ordered that an Islamist-dominated assembly writing the new constitution could not be dissolved by legal challenges.

Morsi, an Islamist whose roots are in the Muslim Brotherhood party, also gave himself sweeping powers that allowed him to sack the unpopular general prosecutor and opened the door for a retrial for Mubarak and his aides.

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The president's decree aimed to end the logjam and push Egypt, the Arab world's most populous nation, more quickly on its democratic path, the presidential spokesman said.

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The president said any decrees he issued while no parliament sat could not be challenged, moves that consolidated his powers but look set to polarize Egypt further, threatening more turbulence in a nation at the heart of the Arab Spring.

"The people want to bring down the regime," shouted protesters in Tahrir, echoing one of the chants that was used in the uprising that forced Mubarak to step down.

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For some reason Obama comes to mind when I read this.

Oh, and you will be heartened to know the United Nations is concerned about this. Feh...