Protests force Egypt court to delay ruling on constituent assembly

Hundreds of supporters of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi protested Sunday outside a top Egyptian court, forcing judges to delay a hearing on a constitutional panel at the heart of a deepening crisis.

The Supreme Constitutional Court could not even begin sitting when it called an “administrative delay” to the session that would have also looked into the status of the Islamist-dominated senate, a judicial official told news agency AFP.

Any rulings would have escalated a crisis with Mursi, who in a decree expanding his powers barred the court from examining the case, before the panel adopted the constitution on Friday.

Both the judicial official and state television did not say when the court would hold any new session.

The Islamists, many wrapped in blankets and carrying posters of Mursi, had spent the night outside the courthouse in a bid to prevent its judges from entering.

The disputed draft constitution – which declares “the principles of Islamic sharia” as the main source of legislation – is to be put to a referendum on December 15.