Two men were shot dead in Egypt's capital on Wednesday, a security source said, raising the death toll to at least 54 in seven days of clashes, the deadliest violence since President Mohamed Morsi took office last June.
The men, named as Ahmed Saad Eldin and Reda El-Refai, were hit by gunshots before dawn on the edge of Tahrir Square, the source said, adding it was not clear who fired the shots.
Police have been firing volleys of teargas against protesters throwing stones in streets around the square.
On another note, the nightly curfew in Ismailia, one of three Egyptian cities where a state of emergency was declared this week, has been cut to three hours from the nine hours originally imposed, the governor said on Wednesday.
Governor Gamal Imbaby, a former general, told reporters the new times for the curfew, which has been routinely defied since it came into effect on Monday, would be 2 a.m. (0000 GMT) to 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) instead of 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The governors of Suez and Port Said, the other two cities along the Suez Canal where a curfew was imposed, said they were still discussing the matter.
Also on Wednesday, President Mohamed Morsi said Egypt would be based on the rule of law - not the army or religious leaders - and a new parliament to be elected in a few months would decide on the make-up of the government.
"Egypt is on its way to achieving sound governance and a state of law in a framework of a modern civilian state which we all aspire to - a civilian state that is not a military state or a theocratic state, but an institutional civilian state," Morsi told reporters during a visit to Berlin.
Asked whether he would be willing to form a "government of national salvation" with the opposition, Morsi said a new parliament would be elected in three to four months and its job would be to choose a new government.
Earlier, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi flew to Germany to convince Europe of his democratic credentials, leaving behind a country in crisis after a wave of violence that has killed more than 50 people.
The Egyptian army chief warned on Tuesday that the state was on the brink of collapse if Morsi's opponents and supporters did not end the street battles that have marked the two year anniversary of the revolt that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Because of the crisis, Morsi has curtailed the schedule of his European visit, cancelling plans to go to Paris after Berlin. He is due to return to Cairo later on Wednesday.
Near Cairo's Tahrir Square on Wednesday morning, dozens of protesters threw stones at police who fired back with teargas, although the scuffles were short-lived.
"Our demand is simply that Morsi goes, and leaves the country alone. He is just like Mubarak and his crowd who are now in prison," said Ahmed Mustafa, 28, a youth who had goggles on his head to protect his eyes from teargas.
Opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei called for a meeting between the president, government ministers, the ruling party and the opposition to halt the violence. But he also restated the opposition's precondition that Morsi first commit to seeking a national unity government, which Morsi has so far rejected.
Morsi's critics accuse him of betraying the spirit of the revolution by keeping too much power in his own hands and those of his Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement banned under Mubarak which won repeated elections since the 2011 uprising.
Morsi's supporters say the protesters want to overthrow Egypt's first democratically elected leader. The unrest has prevented a return to stability ahead of new parliamentary elections due within months, and worsened an economic crisis that has seen the pound currency tumble in recent weeks.
The worst violence has been in the Suez Canal city of Port Said, where rage was fueled by death sentences passed against soccer fans for deadly riots last year. Mursi responded by announcing on Sunday a month-long state of emergency and curfew in Port Said and two other Suez Canal cities.
Protesters ignored the curfew and returned to the streets on Monday although the streets grew quieter on Tuesday. Human Rights Watch called for Mursi to lift the emergency decree.
REUTERS
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