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Opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi have set up camp in central Cairo to protest against a new decree granting him sweeping powers, BBC reported. 

The decree, which says his decisions cannot be overturned by the courts, also sparked attacks on offices of the president's party in several cities.

A defiant Mr Mursi defended the move, saying he was leading Egypt on a path to "freedom and democracy".

The Obama administration has voiced concern about developments.

Overnight, some 20 white tents were pitched in the middle of Cairo's totemic Tahrir Square, where Egyptians celebrated the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak last year.

Protest organisers said more than 20 different groups had joined the week-long sit-in against Mr Mursi's reforms.

Numbers of protesters have ranged from a few hundred to a few thousand.

Organisers have called for a huge protest on Tuesday.

They say the new president is becoming as much of a dictator as long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak.

The protesters have two demands: to reverse the president's constitutional declaration, and to dissolve the constituent assembly that is currently drafting Egypt's new constitution.

Separately on Friday evening another set of anti-Mursi protesters clashed with police near the interior ministry off Tahrir Square.

Police fired tear gas and demonstrators threw petrol bombs.

Chants of "Mursi is Mubarak... revolution everywhere" rang out.

Almost 100 people were injured in violence as offices of the president's Muslim Brotherhood party were reportedly attacked in the cities of Port Said, Suez and Ismailia, while clashes between rival demonstrations took place in Alexandria.

Defending his decision at a rally at Cairo's presidential palace on Friday, Mr Mursi said he was the guardian of political, economic and social stability, but that he wanted to see a "genuine opposition, a strong opposition".

Key opposition figures have accused the president of "monopolising all three branches of government" and overseeing "the total execution of the independence of the judiciary".

US state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Friday that the decree had "raised concerns" in the international community.

She said Egypt's revolution had aimed "to ensure that power would not be overly concentrated in the hands of any one person or institution".

She said the US wanted democratic dialogue within Egypt to solve constitutional issues.

The rapid turn of events may have caught Washington by surprise, says the BBC's Steve Kingstone in Washington.

Only on Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Mr Mursi in Cairo and praised him for his efforts in brokering the ceasefire in Gaza.