Scores of people were injured in weekend clashes in Cairo after opposition activists clashed with Islamists who were rallying on behalf of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood-linked President Mohamed Morsi. At stake are efforts by the Egyptian judiciary to limit and block a series of power grabs by Morsi designed to centralize power around him. Morsi’s supporters object:

At least 82 people were hurt in clashes after opposition activists marched on thousands of Islamists rallying outside a central Cairo court demanding judicial reform… A few activists on the opposition side fired homemade guns loaded with birdshot at the Islamists, who had taken over a main bridge that crosses the Nile River. Five Islamist protesters wounded with birdshot were carried away by comrades, an AFP correspondent reported. The head of the Egyptian emergency services, Mohammed Sultan, told television at least 82 people had been hospitalized.

Opposition figures and foreign analysts have long feared that Morsi and his allies are aiming to intimidate or even purge judges who have served as checks on his efforts to expand his authority. Pressure has been brought to bear on figures associated with the judiciary to resist these efforts.

Egyptian Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki, who had become a central figure in criticism over what the Wall Street Journal describes as “Morsi’s maneuvers to expand presidential power,” tendered his resignation after the protests:

Egypt’s besieged justice minister has submitted his resignation after protests over the weekend by Islamists, who want to purge the courts of judges and lawyers perceived as political enemies of President Mohamed Morsi… Mekki stood against the corruption of toppled leader Hosni Mubarak and has since criticized Morsi’s maneuvers to expand presidential powers, including last year’s firing of Prosecutor-General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud. Morsi has scaled back his authority but has refused to reinstate Mahmoud.

The popular unrest is likely to deepen suspicions that Egypt’s Arab Spring, instead of laying the groundwork for a pluralistic democracy, will instead have succeeded in replacing a relatively secular autocracy with an Islamist autocracy. Human rights groups have recently called on the U.S. to condemn the quickening erosion of civil liberties under the Muslim Brotherhood-linked government.

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