Morsi returns to work after thousands protest outside palace

An Egyptian official says the country's president has returned to his Cairo palace, a day after he left it through a back gate as tens of thousands of angry protesters besieged the complex demanding he rescind decrees.

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CAIRO // An Egyptian official says the country's president has returned to his Cairo palace, a day after he left it through a back gate as tens of thousands of angry protesters besieged the complex demanding he rescind decrees giving him sweeping powers.

The official said President Mohammed Morsi was back at work at the Ithadiya palace today. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media

About 300 opposition supporters are camped out in front of the palace's main gate. Morsi and his aides routinely use other gates.

The president's November 22 decrees and the adoption by his allies of a controversial draft constitution have plunged Egypt into its worst political crisis since president Hosni Mubarak's overthrow nearly two years ago.