CAIRO: Egypt’s main opposition considered on Sunday whether to maintain mass protests against President Mohamed Morsi after the Islamist leader announced a key concession in the political crisis dividing the country.

A Morsi aide said that the president had agreed “from this moment” to give up expanded powers he had assumed last month that gave him immunity from judicial oversight.

However, in a meeting with other political figures on Saturday, Morsi said that he would press ahead with a December 15 referendum on a controversial new constitution drafted by a panel dominated by his Islamist allies.

The opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front, was to meet “to discuss its position after the announcement,” said Emad Abu Ghazi, secretary general of one of its principal parties.

Another member group, the April 6 Youth Movement, dismissed the announcements as “a political maneuver aimed at duping the people.” It called for protests to continue to stop “the referendum on the constitution of the Muslim Brotherhood,” a reference to the party backing Morsi.

Demonstrators furious at what they saw as a power-grab by Morsi and the railroading of the draft constitution have held weeks of street rallies whose demands have escalated into calls for his resignation.

On Wednesday, vicious clashes erupted between pro- and anti-Morsi demonstrators outside the presidential palace that left seven people dead and more than 600 injured. Egypt’s powerful army stepped in by deploying tanks and troops around the palace.