Crowds outside the Presidential Palace gather in protest (Gigi Ibrahim/Creative Commons).

The Egyptian government continues to weaken with support as elected officials have slowly started to resign in protest also.  On Thursday, the director of state broadcasting resigned along with Rafik Habib, a Christian who was the vice president of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party -- a relationship the party once used as proof of their commitment to tolerance.  

The most recent resignations makes a total of nine Morsi administrative officials who have quit in protest.  

ALSO SEE: Morsi Backers Clash With Opposition Outside Cairo Palace

Tension betweens supporters and opponents of Morsi are becoming increasingly violent, resulting in tentative atmosphere that hasn't been this volatile since the revolt that overthrew Hosni Mubarak two years ago.

From the New York Times:

The scale of the violence around the palace has raised the first doubts about Mr. Morsi’s effort to hold a public referendum on Dec. 15 to vote on a draft constitution approved by his Islamist allies over the objections of his secular opposition and the Coptic Christian Church.

About 1 p.m. Thursday, hundreds of his supporters who had camped outside his palace to defend it — many waking up with bandaged heads from wounds sustained from volleys of rocks and the blows of makeshift clubs the previous night — abruptly began to pull out of their encampment in unison, a development that suggested that their organizers in the Muslim Brotherhood had ordered a withdrawal. It took place just moments after several Brotherhood members camped there had vowed to stay put until the referendum, set for Dec. 15.

ALSO SEE: Thousands Of Egyptians March On Presidential Palace

Morsi critics have accused the president of soliciting a new dictatorship that could give reign to Muslim scholars and Islamist groups over society.

Morsi is expected to address the nation on Thursday evening, according to BBC.

Reach Executive Producer Lauren Foliart here.