President Morsi announcing himself president at a press conference in June (Jonathan Rashad, Creative Commons)

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi agreed Monday to limit what decisions would be protected from judicial review to only "sovereign matters", marking a shift from Thursday's declaration of nearly unlimited presidential power. The agreement indicates that a judicial compromise was made during crisis talks with senior judges in an attempt to diffuse the conflict, the Huffington Post reported.

Egypt has become increasingly divided after President Morsi assumed sweeping powers Thursday and granted himself judicial immunity in a move the opposition called “unprecedented.” 

MORE: Egyptian President Mursi Declares Total Executive Power

Human rights lawyers and secular and liberal opposition forces urged Morsi to rescind the decree, which some claim put Egypt’s first democratically elected president “above the law.”

MORE: Morsi's Opponents Respond Angrily To His New Powers

A spokesman for Morsi has defended the edict, which renders presidential decisions immune from legal challenge for six months, as a temporary necessity to deal with sovereignty-related issues and “protect the revolution.”

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A planned mass rally in support of President Morsi’s assumption of sweeping powers was cancelled Monday, reportedly to lesson congestion and ease tension, the Associated Press reported. 

The rally was scheduled for Tuesday and was organized by Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. Opposition parties are still calling for mass rallies and marches in protest of the president’s constitutional declaration.

MORE: Egyptians Protest After Morsi Oversteps

Clashes with riot police continued in Cairo Monday as protestors maintained their occupation of Tahrir Square in dissent of the president’s declaration. Police reportedly threw stones and released tear gas. 

A member of the Brotherhood was killed Sunday in clashes, and ten people were wounded outside of the Muslim Brotherhood offices. Several of the Brotherhood offices have been torched since Thursday.

Courts in some Egyptian provinces have suspended work, and the journalists’ union is also striking on principle.

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