President Mohamed Morsi, pictured here in June 2012 as he announced his presidency. (Wikimedia Commons)

The Los Angeles Times reported protests popped up across Egypt, but turned violent in Alexandria when supporters of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi clashed with those in opposition to the proposed constitution. Roughly 15 people were injured.

From the Times:

Opposition movements urged their followers to select “no” in the voting, which will last a week. The furor over the proposed constitution represents the nation’s worst political crisis since last year’s overthrow of autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The army has been called in to keep order and the country is dangerously balanced between the mainly secular opposition and Morsi and his politically dominant Muslim Brotherhood.

The opposition claims the drafting of the proposed constitution was rushed by an Islamist-dominated assembly after Morsi expanded his powers to prevent the courts from intervening to dissolve the assembly and stop the referendum. Dissident leaders say the document imposes the will of the Muslim Brotherhood and is not reflective of Egyptian society.

“This referendum in itself is void,” said Amr Dabees, a 22-year-old pharmacy student. “Even if we vote no, Morsi will use his powers to keep the same constituent assembly and it has no representation for opposition, minorities, or Christians. This is supposed to be a constitution for all. Morsi's encompassing powers are another problem.”

Read the full story here, and more of Neon Tommy's Egypt coverage here.

Reach Executive Producer Catherine Green here. Follow her here.