Egyptian protesters call for regime change

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STORY: Thousands of demonstrators streamed onto Cairo's streets on Tuesday , marching to the Presidential Palace to protest against President-elect Mohamed Mursi's decision to call a December 15 referendum on what it called an illegitimate draft constitution.

An alliance of Egyptian opposition groups enraged by Mursi's decision had called for protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Tuesday.

Security forces and soldiers closed all roads leading to the presidential palace with razor wire fences to prevent the demonstrators from accessing the presidential seat of power.

In a statement issued after a meeting on Sunday, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, the alliance of liberal, leftist and socialist parties accused Mursi of putting the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood - the group that propelled him to power in a June election - ahead of the interests of the nation.

It said Mursi had "broken his promise not to put the constitution to referendum before gaining wide national consensus around it, which did not happen".

Mursi called the referendum after formally receiving the final draft of the constitution on Saturday from the Islamist-dominated assembly that drafted it.

Demonstrators outside the presidential chanted "leave… leave" as they tried to get into palace grounds.