STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Troops push back an attempt to storm a prison in Port Said
- Clashes break out between dissidents and forces in Suez
- Protesters ignore Morsy's curfew order, part of a limited state of emergency
- An opposition leader issues demands before agreeing to a dialogue
(CNN) -- It didn't take long for the defiance to spread.
Anti-government protesters ignored Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy's curfew order in cities along the Suez Canal and clashed with police and troops in Port Said, state-run media reported Tuesday.
It's the latest in the see-saw struggle between Egypt's first democratically elected president and dissidents who say his tenure is a throwback to the loathsome days of dictatorship.
The most recent furor stems from Morsy's declaration of a limited state of emergency for violent hot spots. On Sunday, he announced a 30-day nighttime curfew for the provinces of Port Said, Suez and Ismailia.
Those areas have seen a spate of bloodshed in recent days, starting with the two-year anniversary of the Egyptian revolution on Friday.
Dissidents angry with the slow pace of change fought with Morsy supporters and police. At least seven people were killed in those clashes.
The tumult intensified a day later, when a judge issued death sentences for 21 Port Said residents for their roles in a deadly football riot last year.
Port Said, which has had a difficult relationship with Cairo over the past six decades, erupted in chaos. At least 38 people were killed in the two days following the verdicts.
A new round of rebellion
Twenty minutes after the 9 p.m. Monday curfew began, protesters amassed and chanted, "With our souls, with our blood, we will sacrifice for you, Port Said," state-run television reported.
Egyptian troops beat back an attempt by a half-dozen armed gunmen to storm a prison in Port Said, according to EgyNews.
West of Port Said, in the coastal city of Alexandria, protesters sat on train tracks, disrupting rail travel.
Anti-government protests also sprouted up in Cairo, and demonstrators in Suez fought with security forces, state-run Nile TV reported.
State of emergency leads to state of turmoil
In a speech Sunday night, Morsy decried the behavior of "criminals," saying recent violence "does not have anything to do with the Egyptian revolution. ... In fact, it is against the revolution."
But he acknowledged the legitimate dissent in Egypt, saying "dialogue is the only way to bring about stability and security."
To this end, he invited representatives from 11 political parties to a meeting.
But a key opposition leader issued conditions before accepting Morsy's call for dialogue.
"Without accepting his responsibility as a president for the latest bloody events, promising to form a government of national salvation and commissioning a balanced committee to amend the constitution, any dialogue will be a waste of time," said Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the Constitution Party and a member of the opposition National Salvation Front.
Protests could drag on indefinitely
The National Salvation Front held the president responsible "for the excessive violence used by security forces against protesters" and called for peaceful demonstrations, according to a statement posted on the state-run Al-Ahram news website.
The group made several demands before it would urge people to stop protesting, including the formation of a new government and making changes to what it called the "distorted constitution" that voters passed, in a referendum, last month.
Morsy's supporters warned the opposition against such demands.
"We would like for the political forces, especially the National Salvation Front, to realize how important this defining moment is and to put the interest of the nation above all," said Gamal Tag, senior leader of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.
"They need to know that President Morsy's call for dialogue is not out of weakness, but it is out of his responsibility as president. ... Some forces are still putting conditions and obstacles before this national dialogue in order to make it fail. These people do not put forward the national interest. They are looking for personal gains."
CNN's Yasmin Amer and Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report.
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