With tanks guarding his palace and officials defecting from his government, besieged Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on Thursday, December 6 offered a “national dialogue” with opposition leaders but refused to cancel a vote on a draft constitution that has ignited two weeks of political unrest, The Los Angeles Times reported. In a televised address, Morsi was adamant that a proposed charter written by an Islamist-dominated assembly would go to a referendum on Dec. 15. He also kept in place an unpopular decree that expanded his powers, blaming recent protest violence on “infiltrators,” including those who this week attacked his motorcade. At least six people have died and more than 700 have been injured in clashes that began Wednesday between Islamist supporters of Morsi and protesters from mainly secular opposition movements.