Egypt referendum set for Dec 15

PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL

Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi sets December 15th as the date for a referendum on a draft constitution.

He gave final approval for the draft late on Saturday.

Now he's hoping support for the document in a popular vote will settle once and for all the outcry over his assumption of sweeping new powers.

The announcement didn't go down well with protesters listening in Tahrir Square in Cairo.

SOUNDBITE: EMAD FIKRY, ANTI-MURSI DEMONSTRATOR, SAYING (Arabic):

"You betrayed the people and Tahrir Square and all the revolutionaries," THIS MAN SAYS. "You stole power for the Muslim Brotherhood to realise their goals and nothing else, not a realisation for all Egyptians. We don't recognise you as president now."

In Mursi's own home town of Zagazig too, hundreds took to the streets on Saturday in protest against him.

He plunged the nation into a new crisis last week by banning all legal challenges to his rule.

His promise that the measure would last only until a new constitution was in place hasn't calmed the backlash.

But on the same day there were also mass rallies in support of the president.

At least 200,000 Islamists were on the streets of Cairo to show their backing.

In Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city, a similar number turned out for this show of strength in Mursi's favour.

It's a clear sign that the Muslim Brotherhood which propelled Mursi to power can rely on large scale support among voters.