Egyptian police battle protesters outside presidential palace

Egyptian police battled thousands of protesters outside President Mohamed Mursi's palace in Cairo today, prompting the Islamist leader to leave the building, presidency sources said. Officers fired teargas at up to 10,000 demonstrators angered by Mursi's drive to hold a referendum on a new constitution on Dec. 15. Some broke through police lines around his palace and protested next to the perimeter wall. The crowds had gathered nearby in what organisers had dubbed "last warning" protests against Mursi, who infuriated opponents with a Nov. 22 decree that expanded his powers. "The people want the downfall of the regime," the demonstrators chanted. "The president left the palace," a presidential source, who declined to be named, told Reuters. A security source at the presidency also said the president had departed. Mursi ignited a storm of unrest in his bid to prevent a judiciary still packed with appointees of ousted predecessor Hosni Mubarak from derailing a troubled political transition. Facing the gravest crisis of his six-month-old tenure, the Islamist president has shown no sign of buckling under pressure. Riot police at the palace faced off against activists chanting "leave,...