4 Egyptians killed in clashes near presidential palace in Cairo

Mohamed Soltan, Egypt's top rescue official, told reporters in the early hours of Thursday that nearly 350 people were also injured in the clashes.

    In Heliopolis neighbourhood in a Cairo suburb, many of the protesters left and only a few hundred allies and foes of Morsi remained. They were throwing fire bombs and rocks at each other as shots rang out.


On Wednesday, three advisors to Morsi stepped down as clashes between his supporters and opponents turn violent outside the palace.

Amr al-Laythi, Seif Abdel Fattah, and Ayman al-Sayyad announced that they had submitted their resignations in protest over his handling of a crisis over the country's new constitution.

The latest resignations bring to six the number of advisors who have quit the president's panel of 17 advisors since the crisis began on November 22.

Earlier on Wednesday, anti-Morsi protesters set fire to the ruling party’s offices in the northeastern cities of Ismailia and Suez.

On November 22, Morsi issued a decree declaring that no judicial body can dissolve the Constituent Assembly, which was writing the draft of the constitution.

The decree allows the president to take "any decision or measure to protect the revolution." It also makes decisions and laws issued by the president "final and not subject to appeal."

Since then, thousands of people have staged massive demonstrations in Cairo and a number of other Egyptian cities in protest against the president’s decree and the speedy adoption of a draft constitution.

On November 30, the Constituent Assembly approved the final draft of the new constitution.