Cairo: Egypt's police fired water cannons on Tuesday to disperse two protests by dozens of secular anti-government activists in Cairo, the security forces' first implementation of a controversial new law forbidding protests held without a permit from authorities.
The unrest points to the growing backlash against the law, which imposes heavy restrictions on protests, among the non-Islamist political factions that rallied behind the military's ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
Now some in the loose coalition are growing impatient with signs the military-backed interim government is taking the country down a more authoritarian path.
Many non-Islamist activists say the law aims to silence any dissent ahead of a referendum on an amended constitution and other key elections.
Those activists oppose provisions in the revised constitution entrenching greater powers for the military and the president, and curtailing rights to free trials and assembly.
The government says the law is needed to restore security and rein in near daily protests by Morsi supporters demanding his reinstatement.
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