Tens of thousands of protesters broke through the barbed wire military barricades to demonstrate outside Egypt's presidential palace.
The swelling of protests comes after the Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi had refused to consider opposition demands to withdraw the proposed constitution, in a defiant televised address on Thursday.
Stating that he respected peaceful protests, Mursi blamed "thugs" and "infiltrators" for the violence that has already killed seven.
Defending his widening of powers for himself, Mursi said, “it is my duty to safeguard the state against any tampering."
