By Ayman Mohyeldin, Charlene Gubash and Christina Caron, NBC News

To fans of controversial Egyptian comedian and TV host Bassem Youssef, he’s “a pioneer” and “one of the funniest guys in Cairo.” To his critics, he’s an incendiary force who insults Islam under the guise of free speech.

As for Youssef, he says he’s “just the host of a political satire show” who appeals to people seeking controversy and “a good laugh.”

A former heart surgeon, Youssef developed an online following after posting satirical YouTube clips during the violent 2011 uprising in Egypt. He was eventually offered his own TV show, “The Program,” earning inevitable comparisons to Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show."

“I don't take aim at the president, I take aim at the authority -- because this is what sarcasm is all about. This is what joking and political satire is all about -- not about me confirming with the president,” Youssef told NBC News. “Political satire everywhere in the world is directed towards two things: authority and right wing. I mean, the right wing is amazing -- they're giving us amazing material.”

In fact, he says, perhaps his critics should be thanked for the additional ratings: "It seems they are watching my show more than anybody." 

Fans: Youssef is saying 'what we all want to say'
In one episode he sang to a heart-shaped pillow bearing Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi’s face, and in several others he relied on sexual innuendos to get laughs. Although some have taken offense, the show is viewed by an average of 30 million people on TV, and averages 2.5 million views on YouTube. 

One of those fans, 21-year-old student Mohammed Barakat, said Morsi is just saying “what we all want to say.”

“Every Friday everyone sits with their family to watch [‘The Program’] … It’s a way to escape all the problems and make fun of what’s going on and takes away a bit of the depression,” Barakat said.

If the Muslim Brotherhood tries to shut down the show, Youssef said, “There’s YouTube -- they have to close YouTube then, or they have to put us in jail, or they have to make us flee the country.

“So there are many lovely options out there,” he joked.

But Morsi isn’t laughing. 

Egypt’s top prosecutor issued an arrest warrant, accusing Bassem of insulting Morsi and Islam. Youssef turned himself in and then was released on bail after being interrogated, prompting a stern statement from the U.S. State Department.

It followed several legal complaints filed by Morsi supporters.

Sayed Hamad, a lawyer who filed one of those complaints, said Youssef’s show is “shattering … all the values and ethics that we are used to.” 

For Youssef to wear a giant hat, an exaggerated version of the graduation hat Morsi wore in March when he was awarded an honorary degree, was "humiliating" to the president, Hamad said.

But when Youssef also wore the hat to his interrogation at the prosecutor general’s office, Hamad said it was akin to “a drug dealer who was caught red-handed going into the courtroom with drugs in his hand.”

'You don't have to be petty'
On Monday, the prosecutor general accused Youssef and his TV station’s CEO with disturbing the peace. That day, "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" took aim at Morsi’s government.

“When you’re actually powerful, you don’t have to be petty,” Stewart said during his 11-minute segment on Youssef’s arrest. “Bassem is my friend, my brother. There are two things he loves in this world with all his heart: Egypt and Islam. And his family. Three things.”

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo tweeted a link to Stewart’s monologue, angering Morsi whose office tweeted: “It’s inappropriate for a diplomatic mission to engage in such negative political propaganda.” The embassy deleted its Twitter account temporarily then it resurfaced without the link to Stewart’s show. 

At one time, Morsi pledged to uphold freedom of expression. 

When asked in January, two years after the Arab Spring uprising, if Youssef and other critics such as Mohamed ElBaradei need to worry about going to jail, Morsi told CNN, “They are Egyptians, they are part of my family in Egypt, there is no way any harm can befall them because of their opinions or their personal opposition.”

That remains to be seen. With so many admirers of the show, any decision to punish Youssef would likely be met with public outcry.

“I wouldn’t allow it, personally. If it takes us demonstrating to stop it because it’s not just about Bassem Youssef, it’s about freedom of speech -- simple as that,” American University professor Hala Abdel Hak said.

Store owner Ghada Abdel Hak says Youssef has an ability to “put a mirror in front of you in a very funny and smart way.”

“Egyptians now after the revolutions will not shut up,” he said.

Youssef's legal ordeal is far from over -- he could be called back into the general prosecutor's office for questioning, or referred to trial. 

So far, however, he isn’t bending to political pressure. If things escalate and he’s forced to leave the country, he says “he’ll do so with a broken heart.”

Producer Taha Belal contributed to this report. 

Nasser Nasser / AP

An mural in Cairo depicts ousted president Hosni Mubarak, right, and Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, left, with Arabic that reads "before the revolution, let them be amused, after the revolution, let them be paralyzed."

CAIRO, Egypt — Liberals and other opponents of the Islamist government in Egypt have called for the military to resume control of the country if its dire economy continues to worsen amid ongoing political turmoil.

On Tuesday, a coalition of leftist and liberal parties known as the National Salvation Front announced it would boycott upcoming parliamentary elections, claiming President Mohammed Morsi is driving through an Islamist agenda and breaking a promise to govern on behalf of all Egyptians.

Without the NSF’s participation, many fear Islamist parties led by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and the more conservative Salafist parties will sweep the elections and dominate the House of Representatives. This would give them near complete control of the executive and legislative branches of government.

Amid the political strife, Egypt’s economy is on the brink of economic collapse —  the government announced earlier this month it had run out of money to continue to pay for fuel subsidies.

Former United Nations nuclear agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who now leads the moderate Dustour party, was recently quoted by Foreign Policy magazine as saying that if “Egypt is on the brink of default [on its international debts], if law and order is absent, [the army] has a national duty to intervene.”

"I am sure they are as worried as everyone else. You cannot exclude that the army will intervene to restore law and order," he told reporters.

'Act of deception'
Referring to the forthcoming election, ElBaradei also said he would "not be part of an act of deception" in a message on Twitter. 

"Absence of law & order, due process & cascade of Fatwas & 'legal' investigations vs opposition fast tracks Egypt towards a Kafkaesque state," he wrote in another tweet.

Slideshow: Egypt's revolution and the fall of Mubarak

Ahmed Youssef / EPA

Eighteen days of popular protest culminated in the downfall of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11, 2011.

Launch slideshow

While liberals supported the revolution against former strongman Hosni Mubarak, some now see the idea of a military regime as a lesser of two evils if the alternative is the country's collapse.

Opposition newspapers, including el-Dostoor and el-Masry el-Youm, have highlighted the failures of Morsi's government with several pundits suggesting the military may have to intervene if the situation continues to deteriorate.

And on Monday, dozens of people rallied in Cairo at the tomb of former President Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated by Islamist soldiers in 1981, to demand the military reassume control of the country and remove the Muslim Brotherhood from power.

The demonstration may have been relatively small, but the call for a return to military rule has created waves of anxiety across the country.

In the past few weeks, Morsi and his office have constantly sought to reassure the public that there is no tension between him and the military.

The president has denied local press reports that he was on the verge of sacking his defense minister.

Abir Abdullah / EPA, file

An Egyptian works in a factory in Cairo on Feb. 18. The IMF has refused the country's requests for a loan, citing the need for economic reforms.

But the military has fueled some of the tension by issuing warnings of collapse and statements of tacit disapproval of the current political stalemate.

Even the dates of the parliamentary election — to be held over three months — have been cause for controversy.

The date of the first round of voting originally fell on Easter weekend. In a country with nearly a 10 percent Christian population, the dates seemed at best bizarre, at worst offensive. The presidency quickly retracted the election announcement and declared new dates.

Fragile
Islamist parties have dismissed the opposition’s election boycott, saying because they can’t win at the ballot box, they are boycotting the process and thus are jeopardizing Egypt’s fragile democracy.

All this adds to the pressure on its equally fragile economy.

Egypt has been desperately seeking to secure a loan from the International Monetary Fund, which would give it a cash injection that would only Band Aid the problem, not solve it.  

So far, the IMF has refused, citing the need for economic reforms. But the government has struggled to get the political backing it needs to take such drastic steps as cutting subsidies that could trigger broad street protests among those who would be affected the most.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, the country experienced one of its worst tourist accidents on Tuesday when 19 people were killed when a hot air balloon caught fire.

The accident near the ancient city of Luxor raised fears that the country’s decimated tourism industry would be dealt another blow because of increased concerns about safety standards as well as the security of foreigners visiting Egypt.

In a country once beaming with hope and optimism, where its revolution was celebrated for its unity, a newly divided and tumultuous reality has now firmly taken root.

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Egypt could 'collapse,' army chief warns as violence continues

Egyptians fear decades of Muslim Brotherhood rule, warn Morsi is no friend of US

PORT SAID/CAIRO - At least 30 people were killed on Saturday when Egyptians rampaged in protest at the sentencing of 21 people to death over a soccer stadium disaster, violence that compounds a political crisis facing Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

Armored vehicles and military police fanned through the streets of Port Said, where gunshots rang out and protesters burned tires in anger that people from their city had been blamed for stadium deaths last year.

The rioting in Port Said, one of the most deadly spasms of violence since Hosni Mubarak's ouster two years ago, followed a day of anti-Morsi demonstrations on Friday, when nine people were killed. The toll over the past two days stands at 39.

The flare-ups make it even tougher for Morsi, who drew fire last year for expanding his powers and pushing through an Islamist-tinged constitution, to fix the creaking economy and to cool tempers enough to ensure a smooth parliamentary election.

That vote is expected in the next few months and is meant to cement a democratic transition that has been blighted from the outset by political rows and street clashes.

Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

Al Ahly fans, also known as "Ultras", celebrate and shout slogans in front of the Al Ahly club after hearing the final verdict of the 2012 Port Said massacre in Cairo Saturday.

The National Defense Council, led by Morsi and which includes the defense minister who commands the army, called for "a broad national dialogue that would be attended by independent national characters" to discuss political differences and ensure a "fair and transparent" parliamentary poll.

The statement was made on state television by Information Minister Salah Abdel Maqsoud, who is also on the council.

The National Salvation Front of liberal-minded groups and other opponents cautiously welcomed the call but demanded any such dialogue have a clear agenda and guarantees that any deal would be implemented, spokesman Khaled Dawoud told Reuters.

The Front spurned previous calls for dialogue, saying Morsi ignored voices beyond his Islamist allies. The Front earlier on Saturday threatened an election boycott and to call for more protests on Friday if demands were not met.

Its demands included picking a national unity government to restore order and holding an early presidential poll.

Threats of violence
The political statements followed clashes in Port Said that erupted after a judge issued a verdict sentencing 21 men to die for involvement in the deaths of 74 people after a local soccer match on February 1, 2012, many of them fans of the visiting team.

Visiting fans had threatened violence if the court had not meted out the death penalty. They cheered outside their Cairo club when the verdict was announced. But in Port Said, residents were furious that people from their city were held responsible.

Protesters ran wildly through the streets of Mediterranean port, lighting tires in the street and storming two police stations, witnesses said. Gunshots were reported near the prison where most of the defendants were being held.

A director for Port Said hospitals told state television that 30 people had been killed, many as a result of gunshot wounds. He also said the more than 300 had been wounded.

Inside the court, families of victims danced, applauded and some broke down in tears of joy when they heard Judge Sobhy Abdel Maguid declare that the 21 men would be "referred to the Mufti", a phrase used to denote execution, as all death sentences must be reviewed by Egypt's top religious authority.

There were 73 defendants on trial. Only a handful appeared in court in Cairo. Those not sentenced on Saturday would face a verdict on March 9, the judge said.

At the Port Said soccer stadium a year ago, many spectators were crushed and witnesses saw some thrown off balconies after the match between Cairo's Al Ahly and local team al-Masri. Al Ahly fans accused the police of being complicit in the deaths.

The fans, who call themselves "Ultras Ahlawy", said Saturday's ruling started the process of retribution, and hoped the rest would face the same fate when verdicts are issued on March 9.

Among those killed on Saturday was a former player for al-Masri and a soccer player in another Port Said team, the website of the state broadcaster reported.

Mohammed Nouhan / AP

Families and supporters of those accused of soccer violence from the Port Said soccer club react to the announcement of death sentences for 21 fans.

Teargas rains down
On Friday, protesters angry at Morsi's rule had taken to the streets for the second anniversary of the uprising that erupted on January 25, 2011 and which brought Mubarak down 18 days later.

Police fired teargas and protesters hurled stones and petrol bombs. Nine people were killed, mainly in the port city of Suez, and hundreds more were injured across the nation.

On Saturday, some protesters again clashed with police. In the capital, youths pelted police lines with rocks near Tahrir Square. In Suez, police fired teargas where protesters angry at Friday's deaths hurled petrol bombs and stormed a police post.

"We want to change the president and the government. We are tired of this regime. Nothing has changed," said Mahmoud Suleiman, 22, in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the cauldron of the 2011 anti-Mubarak revolt and near where youths again stoned police.

Port Said, Ismailia and Suez, which have witnessed some of the worst violence in the past two days, lie on the Suez Canal but a canal official said there was no disruption to shipping through the waterway vital to international trade.

Morsi's opponents say he has failed to deliver on economic pledges or to be a president representing the full political and communal diversity of Egyptians, as he promised.

"Egypt will not regain its balance except by a political solution that is transparent and credible, by a government of national salvation to restore order and heal the economy and with a constitution for all Egyptians," prominent opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei wrote on his Twitter account.

Morsi's supporters say the opposition does not respect the democracy that has given Egypt its first freely elected leader.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which propelled Morsi to office, said in a statement that "corrupt people" and media who were biased against the president had stirred up fury on the streets.

The political schism between Islamists and secular Egyptians and frequent bouts of violence have hurt Morsi's efforts to revive an economy in crisis as investors and tourists have stayed away, taking a heavy toll on Egypt's currency.

Mustapha Kamal Al-Sayyid, a professor of political science at Cairo University, said the latest violence reflected the frustration of many liberal-minded Egyptians and others.

"The state of polarization between Islamists and others is most likely to continue and will have a very negative impact on the state's politics, security and economy," he said.

Related:

Egypt court sentences 21 to death for stadium disaster

Five people were shot dead in the Egyptian city of Suez during nationwide protests against President Mohamed Morsi on Friday, the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

One of the dead was a member of the security forces, medics said. Another 280 civilians and 55 security personnel were injured, officials said, in demonstrations fueled by anger at the president and his Islamist allies in the Muslim Brotherhood.

Thousands of opponents of Morsi massed in Cairo's Tahrir Square - the cradle of the revolt against Mubarak - to rekindle the demands of a revolution they say has been hijacked by Islamists who have betrayed its goals.

Street battles erupted in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and Port Said. Arsonists attacked at least two state-owned buildings as symbols of government were targeted. An office used by the Muslim Brotherhood's political party was also torched.

The Jan. 25 anniversary laid bare the divide between the Islamists and their secular rivals.

This schism is hindering the efforts of Morsi, elected in June, to revive an economy in crisis and reverse a plunge in Egypt's currency by enticing back investors and tourists.

Inspired by the popular uprising in Tunisia, Egypt's revolution spurred further revolts across the Arab world. But the sense of common purpose that united Egyptians two years ago has given way to internal strife that had already triggered bloody street battles last month.

"Our revolution is continuing. We reject the domination of any party over this state. We say no to the Brotherhood state," Hamdeen Sabahy, a popular leftist leader, told Reuters.

PhotoBlog: Protesters fill Tahrir Square on anniversary of Egyptian revolution

Ed Giles / Getty Images

An Egyptian protester runs with a live tear gas canister during clashes with riot police around Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday.

The Brotherhood decided against mobilizing for the anniversary, wary of the scope for more conflict after December's violence, stoked by Morsi's decision to fast-track an Islamist-tinged constitution rejected by his opponents.

The Brotherhood denies accusations that it is seeking to dominate Egypt, labeling them a smear campaign by its rivals.

Death in Suez
There were conflicting accounts of the lethal shooting in Suez. Some witnesses said security forces had opened fire in response to gunfire from masked men.

News of the deaths capped a day of violence which started in the early hours. Before dawn in Cairo, police battled protesters who threw petrol bombs and firecrackers as they approached a wall blocking access to government buildings near Tahrir Square.

Clouds of tear gas filled the air. At one point, riot police used one of the incendiaries thrown at them to set ablaze at least two tents erected by youths, a Reuters witness said.

Yuka Tachibana / NBC News

A boy is draped in the Egyptian flag as protesters gather in Tahrir Square in Cairo on Friday. Despite clashes around the square, the atmosphere inside was festive at times.

Skirmishes between stone-throwing youths and the police continued in streets around the square into the day. Ambulances ferried away a steady stream of casualties.

Protesters echoed the chants of 2011's historic 18-day uprising. "The people want to bring down the regime," they chanted. "Leave! Leave! Leave!" chanted others as they marched towards the square.

"We are not here to celebrate but to force those in power to submit to the will of the people. Egypt now must never be like Egypt during Mubarak's rule," said Mohamed Fahmy, an activist.

There were similar scenes in Suez and Alexandria, where protesters and riot police clashed near local government offices. Black smoke billowed from tires set ablaze by youths.

In Cairo, police fired tear gas to disperse a few dozen protesters trying to remove barbed-wire barriers protecting the presidential palace, witnesses said. A few masked men got as far as the gates before they were beaten back.

Tear gas was also fired at protesters who tried to remove metal barriers outside the state television building.

Outside Cairo, protesters broke into the offices of provincial governors in Ismailia and Kafr el-Sheikhin the Nile Delta. A local government building was torched in the Nile Delta city of al-Mahalla al-Kubra.

Badie calls for 'serious competition'
With an eye on parliamentary elections likely to begin in April, the Brotherhood marked the anniversary with a charity drive across the nation. It plans to deliver medical aid to one million people and distribute affordable basic foodstuffs.

Writing in Al-Ahram, Egypt's flagship state-run daily, Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badiesaid the country was in need of "practical, serious competition" to reform the corrupt state left by the Mubarak era.

Slideshow: Tempers flare in Egypt's Tahrir Square

Asmaa Waguih / Reuters

On the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, hundreds of youths clash with police.

Launch slideshow

"The differences of opinion and vision that Egypt is passing through is a characteristic at the core of transitions from dictatorship to democracy, and clearly expresses the variety of Egyptian culture," he wrote.

Morsi's opponents say he and his group are seeking to dominate the post-Mubarak order. They accuse him of showing some of the autocratic impulses of the deposed leader by, for example, driving through the new constitution last month.

"I am taking part in today's marches to reject the warped constitution, the 'Brotherhoodisation'of the state, the attack on the rule of law, and the disregard of the president and his government for the demands for social justice," Amr Hamzawy, a prominent liberal politician, wrote on his Twitter feed.

The Brotherhood says its rivals are failing to respect the rules of the new democracy that put the Islamists in the driving seat via free elections.

Six months into office, Morsi is also being held responsible for an economic crisis caused by two years of turmoil. The Egyptian pound has sunk to record lows against the dollar.

The parties that called for Friday's protests list demands including a complete overhaul of the constitution.

Critics say the constitution, which was approved in a referendum, offers inadequate protection for human rights, grants the president too many privileges and fails to curb the power of a military establishment supreme in the Mubarak era.

Morsi'ssupporters say enacting the constitution quickly was crucial to restoring stability needed for economic recovery. 

Related:

PhotoBlog: Egypt riot police set fire to protest tents in Tahrir Square, witness says

Egyptians fear decades of Muslim Brotherhood rule, warn Morsi is no friend to US

'Egypt is free,' crowds cheer after Mubarak quits

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt — Supporters of President Mohammed Morsi and his opponents hurled rocks at each other in Egypt's second city on the eve of a final vote on a new constitution shaped by Islamists.

Police fired tear gas as scores of opponents of the constitution and thousands of Islamists hurled rocks across a security cordon separating them near a mosque in Alexandria that was the focus for violence last week.

"God is great," Islamists chanted when the clash began.

The Egyptian Ministry of Health said at least 55 people were injured in the clashes near the al-Qaid Ibrahim mosque in Alexandria, state media reported.

The Islamists had gathered in support of an Islamic vision of Egypt's future a day before a second round of voting in a referendum on the basic law. Opposition supporters had also turned out as worshipers assembled for Friday prayers.

Morsi and his Islamist allies back the draft constitution as a vital step in Egypt's transition to democracy almost two years after the fall of Hosni Mubarak.

The opposition says the draft, drawn up by an Islamist-dominated assembly, is a recipe for deepening divisions and more violence.

The Muslim Brotherhood called for the mass gathering in Alexandria to protest after a violent confrontation between Islamists and the liberal, secular opposition last week ended with a Muslim preacher besieged inside his mosque for 14 hours.

Rival factions had used clubs, knives and swords last week, but this time police kept the feuding sides apart, although witnesses saw several protesters and one police officer being helped away. Some protesters had head wounds.

The run-up to the final round of voting Saturday on a new constitution has been marked by often violent protests that have cost at least eight lives. The first round on Dec. 15 produced a yes vote that is expected to be repeated in the second round.

Lines of riot police cordoned off Alexandria's al-Qaid Ibrahim mosque, scene of last week's violence. Islamists chanted pro-Islamic slogans while a smaller group of opponents gathered nearby, chanting against Morsi, propelled to power in a June election by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Analysis: Egypt is rapidly approaching its own 'cliff'

"The people want the implementation of Shariah," the Islamist sympathizers shouted, in a show of support for Islamic law. "Our souls and blood, we sacrifice to Islam," they shouted.

In one incident, an Islamist filming anti-Morsi protesters was grabbed and roughed up. Islamists on the other side of a security cordon pushed and shoved police trying to reach him.

The opposition, facing defeat in the referendum, has called for a no vote against a document it says is too Islamist and ignores the rights of women and minorities, including the 10 percent of Egyptians who are Christian.

AP

Opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi clash with Islamist supporters of the president,as a cordon of riot police separates the groups in Alexandria, Egypt, on Friday.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Hassan Ammar / AP

Egyptian protesters gather outside the presidential palace after they broke through a barbed wire barricade that was keeping them from getting closer to the presidential palace, in Cairo on Dec. 7, 2012.

Updated at 3:40 p.m. ET: CAIRO -- Tens of thousands of Egyptian protesters surged around the presidential palace on Friday and the opposition rejected President Mohammed Morsi's call for dialogue to end a crisis that has polarized the nation and sparked deadly clashes.

"The people want the downfall of the regime" and "Leave, leave," crowds chanted after bursting through barbed wire barricades and climbing on tanks guarding the palace of Egypt's first freely elected president. The crowds did not breach the palace walls or the gates.

Egypt's state news agency reported that the election committee had postponed the start of voting for Egyptians abroad until Wednesday, instead of Saturday as planned. It did not say whether this would affect the timing of voting in Egypt, but the move is an indication that the president may also order a delay in the referendum for Egypt's constitution, which was scheduled to start Dec. 15.

Egyptian opposition leaders on Friday rejected a national dialogue meeting that had been proposed by the Islamist president as a way out of a crisis that has polarized the country and provoked deadly clashes in the streets. But for the most part, the demonstrations remain peaceful, and riot police and the military nearby have not engaged the crowds.

Meanwhile, Morsi's supporters in the Muslim Brotherhood held emotional funerals for six of the movement's members killed in fighting around the presidential palace earlier in the week.

Morsi had offered few concessions in a speech late Thursday, refusing to retract a Nov. 22 decree in which he assumed sweeping powers or to cancel a referendum next week on a constitution newly drafted by an Islamist-dominated assembly.

Instead, he called for a dialogue at his office on Saturday to chart a way forward for Egypt after the referendum, an idea that liberal, leftist and other opposition leaders rebuffed.

They have demanded that Morsi rescind the decree in which he temporarily shielded his decisions from judicial review and postpone the Dec. 15 referendum before any negotiations begin.

Analysis: Supporters of Islamist president push Egypt to tipping point

A leader of the main opposition coalition said Friday it would not join Morsi's dialogue: "The National Salvation Front is not taking part in the dialogue," said Ahmed Said, a leader of the coalition, who also heads the liberal Free Egyptians Party.

The Front's coordinator, Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel peace laureate, urged "national forces" to shun what he called an offer based on "arm-twisting and imposition of a fait accompli."

Morsi's decree giving himself extra powers sparked the worst political crisis since he took office in June. The renewed unrest is dimming Egypt's hopes of stability and economic recovery after nearly two years of turmoil following the overthrow of veteran military strongman Hosni Mubarak.

It has exposed deeply contrasting visions for Egypt since the Arab Spring of revolution, one held by Islamists, who for decades were oppressed by the army and shut out of politics, and another by their rivals, who fear religious conservatives want to squeeze out opposing voices and restrict social freedoms.

'Men don't have to worry about being caught': Sex mobs target Egypt's women

‘Red card’
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square in response to calls by the April 6 movement, which played a prominent role in igniting last year's revolt. It says it wants to show Morsi a "red card," using a soccer metaphor for his dismissal.

Elsewhere, thousands of Islamists gathered at Cairo's al-Azhar mosque for the funeral of "martyrs" killed in the clashes. "Our souls and blood, we sacrifice to Islam," they chanted.

Ayman Mohamed, 29, among a few protesters near the presidential palace, ringed with tanks and armored vehicles after violence that peaked there Wednesday night, said Morsi should scrap the draft constitution and heed popular demands.

"He is the president of the republic. He can't just work for the Muslim Brotherhood," Mohamed said of the eight-decade-old Islamist movement that propelled Morsi from obscurity to power.

More Egypt coverage from NBC News

President Barack Obama told Morsi on Thursday of his "deep concern" about casualties in this week's clashes, in which seven people were killed and 350 wounded. Obama said "dialogue should occur without preconditions," the White House said.

The State Department said Friday it "deplores" the violence between rival groups of demonstrators and is calling on all political leaders to tell their supporters the violence is "unacceptable," spokesman Mark Toner said.

"We also look to the government of Egypt to respect the freedoms of peaceful expression and assembly and to exercise restraint," Toner said.

The upheaval in the most populous Arab country worries the United States, which has given billions of dollars in military and other aid since Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979.

NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin, Catherine Chomiak and Reuters contributed to this report.

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