An Egyptian panel Sunday focuses on the army as it votes on a new constitution, the first step in a "democratic transition" pledged after the military ousted President Mohammed Morsi.

If adopted, the charter will be put to a popular referendum early next year, followed by parliamentary and presidential elections by mid-2014.

An Egyptian panel approved Saturday more than half of the articles of a new constitution aimed at paving the way for a return to elected rule after July's military ouster of president Mohammed Morsi.

If adopted in full, the charter will be put to a popular referendum early next year in the first milestone of the military-installed government's transition roadmap, to be followed by presidential and parliamentary elections in mid-2014.

A court in the Egyptian city of Alexandria is to hear an appeal on December 7 from 14 Islamist women protesters sentenced to 11 years in jail, their lawyer said Saturday.

Ayman Dali told AFP that an appeal by seven other girls, all under the age of 18 and part of the same case, will also be heard that day by a separate court for juveniles.

Egyptian police fired tear gas on protesters as a prominent secular activist turned himself in Saturday after being ordered detained for holding a demonstration against a new protest law, security officials said.

Ahmed Maher, founder of the April 6 movement, one of the main groups that spearheaded the 2011 revolt against long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak, arrived at a Cairo court surrounded by dozens of supporters who chanted slogans demanding the release of other detained activists.

A 50-member panel drafting Egypt's new constitution begins voting on Saturday on the final document which will then be put to a referendum, officials said.

The constitution is the first key milestone in a road map envisaged by Egypt's military-installed rulers after the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on July 3.

The United States voiced concern over fresh unrest in Egypt after nearly 200 people were arrested Friday in a clampdown on Islamists protesting against a new law banning unauthorized demonstrations.

In Cairo, police used tear gas against hundreds of Morsi supporters who had gathered in front of one of the capital's presidential palaces. Gunshots could be heard as well.

One man was killed when armed groups of Muslims and Christians clashed in central Egypt over a relationship between a Coptic Christian and a Muslim woman, state news agency MENA reported Friday.

It said the Muslim man was killed when violence erupted late Thursday in an area called Deir Muwass in Minya province.

Clashes erupted in Cairo and other Egyptian cities Friday as police dispersed protests staged by Islamists defying a new law banning unauthorized demonstrations, security officials said.

Police used tear gas against supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in the capital's Mohandessin district and on a key road leading to the pyramids.

A student was killed during an Islamist demonstration at Cairo University Thursday, officials said, as Egyptian authorities continued their crackdown on supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi.

The dead man was Mohammed Reda Mohammed Abdo, 19, a second-year engineering student, said senior health ministry official Ahmed al-Ansari and forensic authority spokesman Hisham Abdul Hamid.

Restrictions on protests and 11-year jail terms for girl demonstrators are reviving Egypt's autocratic past, say activists and erstwhile supporters of the government in place after Islamist president Mohammed Morsi's overthrow.

The military, the real power even after it formally appointed a civilian government, remains wildly popular, and many Egyptians care more for stability amid an economic downturn than for rowdy protests.