Hopes for a swift end to Egypt's impasse faded on Monday as opposition leaders rebuffed a call by President Mohamed Morsi for a "national dialogue" amid violence that cast a long shadow over the second anniversary of the revolution that overthrew Hosni Mubarak. Fifty dead, hundreds of arrests, curfews and a state of emergency in three provinces were stark reminders of the volatile standoff between Morsi's Islamist and conservative supporters and secularists, liberals, left-wingers and Copts.

A large crowd estimated to range between a few hundred to a few thousand people rallied in Cairo on Friday to protest against Islamist influence in the drafting of Egypt's new constitution. Shouting slogans against the Muslim Brotherhood, which controls the country's presidency and the constituent assembly, the crowd marched from several points and assembled in Tahrir Square, the scene of violent clashes during a similar protest last week.

As Egyptians prepare to mark the first anniversary of the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak but left them under the rule of his top generals, two activists explained in interviews with The Lede on Tuesdau that they plan to protest, not celebrate.

Thousands of people have gathered in Tahrir Square in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, rallying for different causes. Activists had called for a mass show of unity on Friday, a week after 15 people were killed in sectarian violence in the country.

Hosni Mubarak s decision to replace his cabinet and appoint a vice-president (Omar Suleiman, 74, head of army intelligence), something he had refused to do since he became president in 1981, had no effect on the hundreds of thousands of Egyptian demonstrators who want him to relinquish all power. His vague calls for dialogue with the opposition, and for economic and social reforms, were also ineffectual. The tension on Egypt s streets did not abate.

As I stand in Tahrir Square on Monday trying to interview protesters, dozens of people surging around me and pleading for the United States to back their call for democracy, the yearning and hopefulness of these Egyptians taking huge risks is intoxicating.