Editor's note: This story includes a correction.

Updated at 7:48 a.m. ET: CAIRO - Walaa Al Momtaz doesn’t leave her home for up to five days at a time. The neatly veiled 22-year-old misses her friends at City University, where she studies English and German, but what she faces upon leaving her house defeats her.

Men and boys constantly harass and threaten Al Momtaz on the bus, on the street and at the university.

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"Every day men talk to me in a bad way, laugh at me and say things about what I am wearing," she told NBC News. On a recent bus trip, a man stuck his hand through a gap in the seat to touch her.

Al Momtaz has gotten off relatively lightly. 

On Nov 25, Al-Ahram state newspaper reported three women were sexually assaulted during anti-Morsi demonstrations by hundreds of men. 

In September, Eman Mostafa, 16, was gunned down after she spit in the face of a man who harassed her in the province of Assiut, according to police reports.

The Feb. 11, 2011, attack on CBS News' Lara Logan as she filed a report for "60 Minutes" in Tahrir Square, epicenter of the uprising that forced dictator Hosni Mubarak to step down last year, brought international attention to the problem of sex attacks on women in public places. 

Public violence against women was rampant well before the movement that unseated Mubarak in 2011. According to a 2008 study by an Egyptian NGO, 83 percent of women have been victims of harassment. 

In the post-Mubarak era, activists and protesters have reported many particularly violent assaults on women. Some experts allege the government and security officials are failing to take the problem seriously. More than 700 claims of harassment were filed across Egypt over the four-day Id al-Adha holiday in late October.

Egypt's Morsi flees palace as protesters battle cops

"It is not a country of law, not a state of law anymore. It has given men a chance to harass women without being accused," said Afaf Marie, director of the Egyptian Association for Community Participation and Enhancement, an NGO.

Some activists fear that women's rights will suffer under the rule of President Mohammed Morsi, who is an Islamist.

Government inaction has allowed the problem to spiral out of control, Heba Morayef, director of Human Rights Watch for the Middle East and North Africa, told NBC News. Police no longer inspire fear as they did before the revolution. In addition, locals say it appears there are fewer police on the increasingly lawless streets -- and often none in Tahrir Square.

"The state is failing to respond,” she said. "Men don’t have to worry about being caught.”

Analysis: Supporters of Islamist president push Egypt to tipping point

In addition, filing charges against an attacker is a daunting process in a society where sex is taboo, and police often don’t take allegations seriously, Morayef said. 

"Failure to prosecute is a major factor in the escalation of violence against women in public places," Morayef said.

Friend or foe
On Nov. 19, journalist Sonia Dridi was wrapping up her live report for French Channel 24 from Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square when a crowd of up to 30 men surrounded her.

As the bodies closed in, Dridi said she concentrated on staying on her feet.

"I was just looking at (fellow correspondent Ashraf Khalil) and felt hands touching me.  I was trying to concentrate,” Dridi told NBC News by telephone.  “At some point I said to Ashraf, ‘Oh my God, they are touching me.’”

She didn’t know who was a friend or an attacker. 

"It is so confusing that at some point I had the impression that those (who were) saying they would help were trying to take advantage,” Dridi said.

In 'new Egypt', mobs sexually assault women with impunity

The mob pounded on the glass doors after she reached the safety of a Hardee’s restaurant on Tahrir Square, which has become a sort of refuge for women. Dridi realized her shirt was opened and broke down in tears.

"The thing that was so sad was that the Hardee’s waiters were … waiting to help me because they are so used to that," she told NBC News. 

The brave
Despite the risks, some women are venturing into potentially dangerous situations to stand up for what they believe in.

"I am afraid of harassment," said Mai Alam, 53, who was in Tahrir Square protesting against a recent Morsi decree giving himself sweeping powers.  "I am with my husband and I keep pepper spray in my purse at all times.”

“But this issue is more important than my fear of sexual harassment,” the Egypt TV employee added.

And while women find ways of coping with violence, activists have formed groups to protect them. They say the police often don't intervene when women are attacked.

During a recent holiday, citizen vigilante groups patrolled Cairo during the recent  Id al-Adha holiday, The New York Times reported.

At a recent march, men wearing fluorescent vests stood on rickety wooden towers and used binoculars to scan the crowd for signs of sexual mobbing.  Local group Fouada Watch has set up a hotline for women, anti-harassment patrols seek to protect women in hot spots and bring alleged offenders to the police, and online services like Harassmap pinpoint dangerous sites. 

Analysis: Egyptians warn that Morsi is no friend of US

Prime Minister Hisham Qandil recently announced that a law was being drafted to combat sexual harassment through harsh penalties, calling the issue a "disastrous phenomenon."

As the government decides what, if anything, to do about the epidemic of violence, women like Al Momtaz continue to try and carve out a normal life in a country that has empowered the bad along with the good. 

"Everybody thinks that democracy and freedom are a license to do whatever they want," she said.

NBC News' Taha Belal contributed to this report.

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Opponents and supporters of Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi clashed in Cairo on Friday in the first street violence between rival factions since the Islamist leader took office.

Islamists and their opponents threw stones, bottles and petrol bombs, and some fought hand-to-hand, showing how feelings still run high between the rival groups trying to shape the new Egypt after decades of autocracy, even though the streets have generally been calmer since Morsi's election in June.

The two sides hurled stones and chunks of concrete and beat each other for sticks for several hours, leaving more than 100 injured, according to the state news agency.

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A government is in place, but Islamists and liberals are at odds over the drafting of the new constitution, which must be agreed on before a new parliament can be elected.

Many of the thousands who gathered in Tahrir Square were angry at this week's court ruling that acquitted former officials charged with ordering a camel and horseback charge on protesters in the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak last year.

But even before that ruling, Morsi's opponents had called for protests against what they say is his failure to deliver on his promises for his first 100 days in office.

PhotoBlog: Egypt's liberals and Islamists clash in violent protests

"Down, down with rule by the guide," Morsi's opponents chanted, suggesting that Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie pulls the strings even though Morsi officially quit the Brotherhood upon taking office.

"Morsi, Morsi," the president's backers responded.

Morsi boasted earlier this week in a nationally televised speech that he had carried out much of what he had promised for his first 100 days, and his supporters say he needs time in the face of overwhelming difficulties inherited from Mubarak's authoritarian and corruption-riddled rule.

One anti-Brotherhood protester in Tahrir, Abdullah Waleed, said he had voted for Morsi in this year's election to prevent his opponent — a longtime Mubarak loyalist — from winning.

"Now I regret it because they are just two faces of the same coin," Waleed said. "Morsi has done nothing for the revolution. I want to say I am so sorry for bringing in another repressive regime."

Some demonstrators pulled down a temporary podium that had been erected on one side of the square for speeches. Later, Islamists took over the square, triggering scuffles in nearby streets as they tried to keep rival groups out.

Two buses parked near the square were set alight. Witnesses said they were used by the Brotherhood to bring in supporters.

"We went to protest against the constituent assembly and Morsi's failure in his 100 days, and Islamists prevented us and are now controlling the square," said Islam Wagdy, 19, a member of a group set up by leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahy.

A member of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party dismissed that account. "What happened today was an attempt by the liberal powers ... to prevent Islamists expressing their views and protesting in Tahrir, which belongs to all Egyptians and not to a certain current," said the FJP's Ahmed Sobeih.

"My conclusion here is that Morsi is just the president of the Brotherhood, that's all. We are back to square one," since Mubarak's fall, said Sayed al-Hawari, who carried a plank of wood as a shield against the volleys of stones.

A leftist protester, Rania Mohsen, said, "We are here against turning the state to a Brotherhood state .... We do not want to replace the old regime with a new like the old one."

A Morsi supporter, in turn, accused the other camp of being "thugs" who chanted against the leader of the Brotherhood and harassed the Islamists during noon prayers in Tahrir.

"We have to give Morsi a chance," 19-year-old Moez Naggar, said. "The more protests we have, the less we can expect from him."

Around nightfall, fighting stopped as the Brotherhood supporters left the square in buses.

There was no intervention by police who have often been the target of protesters' anger in the past because of their brutality against demonstrators in last year's revolt.

Anger over court ruling
The Brotherhood, which joined Friday's protest, had put the focus for the demonstration on this week's court ruling.

The charge by men on camels and horseback was one of the most violent incidents of the uprising that ousted Mubarak in February 2011. The case has been closely watched by those seeking justice for the hundreds killed in the revolt.

The court acquitted top Mubarak-era officials,such as former lower house speaker Fathi Sorour and Mubarak aide Safwat Sherif, both of whom are detested by many Egyptians.

Demonstrators also gathered in Egypt's second city, Alexandria, where Morsi went to a mosque to perform Friday prayers before giving a speech there.

"We won't let anyone involved in corruption get away," he said, while urging protesters not to disrupt people's work. As he spoke, some chanted: "The people want the judiciary purged."

Many blame the general prosecutor, perceived as a Mubarak loyalist, for not securing convictions.

In an apparent bid to appease the public, the president said late on Thursday he was moving Abdel Maguid Mahmoud out of that position to make him ambassador to the Vatican, because Egyptian law prevented him being dismissed.

Mahmoud denounced the move and told Egyptian media he would stay on. The influential judges' club condemned the decision as interference and called for a meeting of judicial officials on Sunday to discuss action, the state news agency reported.

Even some political groups who wanted Mahmoud out questioned the way Morsi had done it. The liberal Free Egyptians Party said changing the prosecutor should be an independent judicial move.

Morsi has won grudging respect from some opponents for pushing the army out of politics, after decades of rule by military men, and for raising Egypt's profile abroad.

But many Egyptians, with high expectations after the revolt, say he has not done enough at home, failing to deliver on promises for his first 100 days such as cleaning up cities and getting traffic moving in Egypt's congested streets.

Many more secular-minded Egyptians and minority Christians also worry that Morsi and his Islamist supporters will seek to impose religious restrictions on society.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Protesters threw rocks at troops guarding Egypt's defense ministry on Friday as thousands marched in Cairo to denounce violence against demonstrators and the exclusion of candidates from the presidential election.

The crowd hurled projectiles and insults at the soldiers sent to defend the ministry after 11 people were killed in clashes there on Wednesday, and called for the overthrow of the head of the ruling army council, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi.

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The army fired back with water cannons then teargas and riot police surged towards the crowd with batons. Scores of wounded protesters were taken away on motorcycles and dozens of soldiers were injured.

"O Tantawi, good morning, this is your last day," shouted the crowd, and "field marshal leave, the people are dangerous."

The street violence comes less than three weeks before an election that represents the first chance for Egyptians to freely choose their leader. A successful vote would mark the most important step in a messy transition to democracy since the overthrow of autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak 15 months ago.

Last-minute changes to the line-up of contenders, bickering over a new constitution and suspicion that the military will continue wielding power after a new president is chosen are making for a chaotic backdrop to the campaign.

In Egypt, chaos is pinned on military's incompetence

The troops pressed forward when protesters began cutting through barbed wire used to seal off the ministry building in Cairo's central Abbasiya district.

Protesters ripped down a metal fence at an underground railway construction site to build a barricade. Some cried "God is greatest" as army helicopters swooped overhead.

The teargas scattered the crowd hundreds of meters down the rock-strewn streets where they regrouped. Troops blocked off a street to the ministry using armored personnel carriers and some fired shots in the air.

PhotoBlog: Thousands protest in Cairo as military fires back with tear gas and water cannons

"The crowd is coming here with sharp weapons. We have batons and water cannon and teargas to disperse them," said one commander. "Some of them believe if they kill a soldier they will go to heaven. What do you expect us to do?"

The Health Ministry said 59 people were injured, most of them from inhaling teargas, and five were taken to hospital.

As dusk approached, gunfire could be heard close to a mosque in the center of the capital.

Election disputes
Tension surrounding the election rose a notch on Wednesday when unidentified assailants fired at protesters camping near the defense ministry, starting clashes that the security forces seemed unable or unwilling to quell.

Many of those protesters were hardline Salafi Islamists upset that their candidate was ruled out of the vote, which begins on May 23 and 24 with a run-off in June.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which dominates parliament, saw its first choice disqualified too, handing a potential advantage to Mubarak-era contenders such as former foreign minister Amr Moussa and ex-prime minister Ahmed Shafiq.

Some Egyptians see the last-minute changes to the candidate line-up as proof the generals are trying to manipulate the vote.

"Remnants of Mubarak's regime are not eligible to assume any power," Hashem Islam, a sheikh from Egypt's highest authority of Sunni Islam, Al-Azhar, told protesters at the defense ministry.

Several thousand Islamists, liberals and left-wing revolutionaries also massed in Tahrir Square, headquarters of the street movement that has transformed decades of tightly-controlled Egyptian politics.

Banners draped in Tahrir demanded implementation of a law banning figures from the Mubarak era from high office. Shafiq was briefly disqualified as a result of the law, but still found his way back into the final line-up of presidential candidates.

Members of the ruling military council on Thursday renewed a pledge to exit politics after handing power to the new president by mid-year. They said the handover could come earlier in the unlikely event that one candidate wins outright in the first round.

But tension between the army's interim government and the Islamist-dominated parliament has left Egypt in a state of policy paralysis that is deepening an economic crisis caused by more than a year of political turmoil.

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