Protests raging in Egypt over draft constitution approval

 CAIRO, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Egyptians flocked Friday to central Cairo's Tahrir square joining a "million-man" protest dubbed¹ "the victim's dream," hours after a draft constitution was rushed through by the Constituent² Assembly (CA).

Earlier, some civil, liberal and leftist parties had announced a rally Friday to protest against the new constitutional declaration issued by President Mohamed Morsi last week, uncovering the reality that the Egypt's transition period is still prevailed by divisions and conflicts between the presidency³ and the judicial⁴ system as well as between the civil forces and Islamic forces.

The new constitutional declaration stipulated⁵ that all laws, decrees and constitutional declarations issued by the president since June 30, 2012, when he assumed office, are final and unchallengeable by anybody.

Branding the president's decisions as "revolutionary," Presidency spokesman Yasser Ali said that no judicial body is entitled to dissolve the Shura Council (upper house) or the CA.

However, the protesters from the April 6 movement, Revolutionary Youth Coalition⁶, Free Egyptians Party, Wafd Party, Kefaya movement, and other political associations considered the constitutional declaration as Morsi's adoption⁷ of sweeping⁸ powers, calling for abolishing the declaration, re-drafting the constitution "which takes all Egyptians' views," and avenging⁹ the victims during last year's unrest.

At least three people have been killed and more than 600 injured during the nationwide protests since the declaration issued.

Meanwhile, the approval of the disputed draft constitution piled pressure on the current administration. Although Morsi gave the assembly two more months until Feb. 12, 2013 to complete its work, the Islamist-dominated assembly surprisingly put their draft constitution to a final vote on Thursday.

The voting lasted nearly 17 hours and the approved version will be referred to Morsi later in the day. If Morsi gives a nod to the draft, a referendum will be prepared to decide whether to implement¹⁰ it.

A total of 85 members of the 100-people assembly attended the session and voted for 234 articles of the draft constitution one by one, while the rest members withdrew from it.

Former Arab League chief Amr Moussa, was among the boycotting¹¹ members and he participated in Friday's rally. He said that he was shocked that the CA voted in only one night over all the constitution articles and termed it as "catastrophic," official MENA news agency quoted him as saying.

He stressed that his rejection¹² to the declaration is irrevocable, urging all political powers to unite and participate actively¹³ in the protests.

Amid sounds of censure¹⁴ over its quick procedures, CA's Chief Hossam Gharyani said during the voting session that the body did not race through the charter, confirming each article of the draft spent averagely 300 hours to discuss and finalize¹⁵.

During the voting, the assembly agreed on several divisive articles of the draft, such as the status of Sharia (Islamic law) in Egyptian legislation.

"Islam is the state religion. Arabic is the official language. Principle of Sharia is the main source of legislation," the second article of the draft stated.

To support Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood¹⁶ has decided¹⁷ Thursday to hold a rally on Saturday near Cairo University rather than the iconic Tahrir Square, where the civil forces will extend their calling at the same day for re-forming a constitution writing body and pulling down current cabinet.

Meanwhile, protesters across Egypt flooded to public areas after the Friday prayers, expressing their support or objection toward the constitutional declaration.

Security forces reinforced their presence around key government facilities, especially the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) headquarters, police stations and prisons, after several FJP's offices had been attacked during recent clashes, MENA reported.

In Alexandria governorate, demonstrators who gathered outside General Ibrahim Mosque¹⁸ called for canceling the declaration and the draft constitution, as well as stopping the referendum for the draft.

For his part, Morsi vowed¹⁹ Thursday before the charter approved that he will stop anyone from extending Egypt's transitional period, asserting that he was keen on all opinions of every political parties.

1 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 constituent   

n.选民；成分，组分；adj.组成的，构成的

参考例句：

• Sugar is the main constituent of candy.食糖是糖果的主要成分。
• Fibre is a natural constituent of a healthy diet.纤维是健康饮食的天然组成部分。

3 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

4 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

5 stipulated   

vt.& vi.规定；约定adj.[法]合同规定的

参考例句：

• A delivery date is stipulated in the contract. 合同中规定了交货日期。
• Yes, I think that's what we stipulated. 对呀，我想那是我们所订定的。 来自辞典例句

6 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

7 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

8 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

9 avenging   

adj.报仇的，复仇的v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的现在分词 )；为…报复

参考例句：

• He has devoted the past five years to avenging his daughter's death. 他过去5年一心报丧女之仇。 来自辞典例句
• His disfigured face was like some avenging nemesis of gargoyle design. 他那张破了相的脸，活象面目狰狞的复仇之神。 来自辞典例句

10 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

11 boycotting   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They're boycotting the shop because the people there are on strike. 他们抵制那家商店，因为那里的店员在罢工。
• The main opposition parties are boycotting the elections. 主要反对党都抵制此次选举。

12 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

13 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

14 censure   

v./n.责备；非难；责难

参考例句：

• You must not censure him until you know the whole story.在弄清全部事实真相前不要谴责他。
• His dishonest behaviour came under severe censure.他的不诚实行为受到了严厉指责。

15 finalize   

v.落实，定下来

参考例句：

• Let us finalize tonight.让我们今天晚上干完
• 。At the same time,industrial designers work with engineers to finalize components and assembly.同时，工业设计师和工程师一道来完成部件和组装部分的工作。

16 brotherhood   

n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊

参考例句：

• They broke up the brotherhood.他们断绝了兄弟关系。
• They live and work together in complete equality and brotherhood.他们完全平等和兄弟般地在一起生活和工作。

17 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

18 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

19 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。