Egypt's newly-elected president has defied the country's military rulers by reading the oath of office in front of a crowd of thousands in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
Mohamed Morsi, the country's first Islamist leader and also the first civilian president, told his cheering supporters: "There is no power above people power".
He also pledged to secure the freedom of an Egyptian cleric jailed for terrorism in the United States.
The speech and its location - the iconic Square where last year's revolution began - appeared to be a calculated snub to Egypt's generals who have moved to limit the new president's role.?
Mr Morsi had been due to take the oath for the first time in front of the country's constitutional court on Saturday.
That official ceremony is still set to go ahead but the venue has caused anger because the inauguration should have taken place in front of the parliament.
The legislature was dissolved just after the presidential election and the generals have granted themselves its lawmaking powers.
By swearing his oath in Tahrir Sqaure - albeit informally - Mr Morsi has shown that he intends to challenge the military's attempts to retain significant control over the country.
The Muslim Brotherhood leader told the crowds that he "feared no one but God" and said he would work to free detainees held by the Egyptian military and overseas.
He said he would try to secure the freedom of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind Egyptian cleric who was jailed for life by an American court over the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing.?
That pledge is likely to unnerve Western powers who had been reassured by Mr Morsi's promises of moderate Islamist rule. Abdel Rahman was also convicted of a plot to assassinate Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted as president by last year's uprising.
Through the day thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters had streamed into Tahrir Square to join a protest against military rule ahead of Mr Morsi's speech.
They have vowed to continue an already week-long sit in until the generals hand over full powers to the new president.?
Mr Morsi's defiant approach could set him on a collision course with the military rulers who have also granted themselves control over national security and defence and over the writing of a new constitution.
He is in the process of forming a new government which will include secularists, Christians and women.
Source: http://news.sky.com/story/954291
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