Egypt's top judges have accused President Mohammed Mursi of staging an "unprecedented attack" on the judiciary, according to BBC News.

The president passed a decree earlier this week granting himself extensive new powers. It includes a bar on any court dissolving the constituent assembly, which is drawing up a new constitution.

Outside a Cairo court where judges are meeting, police fired tear gas to disperse protesters against the decree. They have been charging at the crowds with batons.

The decree sparked angry demonstrations, and attacks on offices of Mursi's Islamist FJP party.

The president has said he is acting to protect the revolution.

In a statement, the Supreme Judicial Council called his move "an unprecedented attack on the independence of the judiciary and its rulings," and called on him to reverse it.

Judges and prosecutors in Egypt's second city Alexandria have gone on strike in protest, saying they will not return to work until the decree is reversed.

The response of the judges has been tough, if fairly predictable. There had been reports that the council was about to disband the constituent assembly for a second time, a move that could seriously derail the transition to democracy and further delay new parliamentary elections. This, in turn, could deter Egypt's political leaders from taking tough decisions while they wait for the vote, BBC says.