Four people were shot dead in the Egyptian city of Suez during nationwide protests against president Mohamed Mursi yesterday, the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt’s Islamist president has given the army temporary power to arrest civilians during a constitutional referendum he is determined to push through despite the risk of bloodshed between his supporters and opponents accusing him of a power grab.

A concession offered by president Mohamed Morsi failed to placate opponents who accused him yesterday of plunging Egypt deeper into turmoil by refusing to postpone a vote on a constitution shaped by Islamists.

Egypt’s president negotiated with judges yesterday to try to defuse a crisis over his seizure of extended powers which set off violent protests reminiscent of the uprising that thrust his Islamist movement into power.

Egyptians demonstrated throughout the weekend in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square and other cities, enraged that a court had spared deposed leader Hosni Mubarak his life over the killing of protesters in the uprising that ended his three-decade rule.