Crisis intensifies as protest shuts top court in Egypt

Protests by Islamists allied to Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi forced Egypt’s highest court to adjourn its work indefinitely yesterday, intensifying a conflict between the country’s top judges and the head of state.

The Supreme Constitutional Court said it would not convene until its judges could operate without “psychological and material pressure”, saying protesters had stopped the judges from reaching the building.

Several hundred Morsi supporters had protested outside the court through the night ahead of a session expected to examine the legality of parliament’s upper house and the assembly that drafted a new constitution, both Islamist-controlled.