NBC News's Ayman Mohyeldin discussed the current unrest in Egypt from Cairo on Wednesday with contributors on the ground.
Watch the entire conversation below:
In an escalation of the tug-of-war between Egypt's president and the powerful judiciary, judges in the country's top courts went on strike Wednesday to protest Mohammed Morsi's seizure of near absolute powers, while Islamists rushed to complete a new constitution, the issue at the heart of the dispute.
The moves came a day after at least 200,000 protesters filled Cairo's central Tahrir Square to denounce the decrees Morsi issued last week, which place him above oversight of any kind, including by the courts.
Threatening to turn the dispute into violent street clashes, Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and the more radical Islamist Salafi Al-Nour party, called for a counter-demonstration this weekend in Tahrir Square, where Morsi's opponents have been holding a sit-in for over a week.
Morsi says the decrees are necessary to protect the "revolution" that helped drive Hosni Mubarak from office last year as well as the nation's transition to democratic rule. The constitutional declaration also provides the 100-member panel drafting a new constitution with immunity from the courts.
The Associated Press.
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