Has Egypt replaced one autocrat with another?<br/> <br />Some protesters, who have been clashing with police near Tahrir Square on and off since Monday, clearly think so.<br/> <br />A presidential decree on Thursday gave Egypt's Mohamed Mursi increased powers and protects him from any legal challenge until parliamentary elections.<br/> <br />The edict also protects the upper house and the body writing Egypt's constitution, both of which are Islamist-dominated.<br/> <br />This woman says Mursi is destroying the military and judiciary and putting Muslim Brotherhood figures in key power positions.<br/> <br />But others took to the streets in support of the president.<br/> <br />The decree also ordered the retrials of some Mubarak-era officials and implies that Mubarak himself will face a retrial.<br/> <br />The country's first democratically elected leader, Mursi has been hamstrung by Mubarak-era policies and was forced into an embarrassing U-turn in October when he tried to sack the prosecutor general who he replaced shortly after the decree was announced on Thursday.
