CAIRO — Egypt's top court Sunday postponed a ruling on the legality of the Islamist-dominated commission that drafted a contested new constitution, state media reported. A verdict on the constitution, adopted by referendum in December, had been due on Sunday but the Supreme Constitutional Court adjourned its decision until March 3, the reports said. A verdict had been expected on Dec. 2 but was delayed after supporters of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi surrounded the court, preventing judges from entering the building and prompting the court to suspend its work. A ruling then scheduled for Jan. 15 also did not take place after dozens of demonstrators staged an overnight sit-in outside the court as riot police formed a security cordon around the building. The court was due to issue its verdict Sunday on the legality of the panel that drafted the constitution, which is at the heart of Egypt's worst political crisis since the overthrow nearly two years ago of president Hosni Mubarak. The opposition argues that the panel failed to represent all Egyptians as it was boycotted by liberals, leftists and Christians.The charter has divided Egypt, pitting Morsi and his backers against the opposition which includes secularists, leftists and Christians as well as Muslims. Sporadic clashes Meanwhile, sporadic clashes broke out overnight between protesters demanding the ouster of Morsi and security forces outside the presidential palace, witnesses said. There were no reports of casualties from the confrontations which follow violent clashes on Friday outside the presidential palace that left one person dead. Late on Saturday several hundred mostly young protesters again gathered outside the compound and threw stones and petrol bombs at its walls. One protester said they were there to pay homage to the young man killed on Friday, and they chanted “Leave!” and “The people want the regime to fall!” — slogans used two years earlier against ousted veteran president Hosni Mubarak. Security forces deployed outside the palace grounds fired tear gas overnight when protesters tried to storm one of the gates, the witnesses said. The head of the military's Republican Guards, tasked with protecting the presidency, said his troops would ignore “provocation” from protesters, the official MENA news agency reported. – Agencies
