Army gets power of arrest during referendum

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.

Seven people were killed and hundreds wounded last week in clashes between the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and their critics besieging Mohammed Morsi’s graffiti-daubed presidential palace. Both sides plan mass rallies today.

The elite Republican Guard has yet to use force to keep protesters away from the palace, which it ringed with tanks, barbed wire, and concrete barricades after last week’s violence.